The Finchel Trap
by DreamerInHerOwnWorld
Summary: It's summer 2028 and Eva Berry and Ariella Hudson have been assigned as roommates at a theatre camp. What happens when they find out their parents' history? Is there still hope for Finchel? Based on the movie 'The Parent Trap'.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! Welcome to the first chapter of my new fic. It's based on the movie 'The Parent Trap' but there are going to be some differences and, of course, it's Finchel :D**

**Thank you so much to anyone who's read/reviewed any of my other fics. I've enabled Anonymous reviews and PMs now if anyone wants to talk to me. :)**

**So, without further ado; enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned Glee but somehow I don't think £3.76 is quite enough to buy it...**

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><p>"Mom, hurry <em>up!<em>" Eva yelled, pulling impatiently on her mother's hand as she marched up to the entrance of the lodge. Her pink bedazzled suitcase clattered along behind her over the dusty path as she almost ran towards the gate. Her mother smiled fondly and quickened her pace, remembering her own enthusiasm at that age.

Eva's dark chocolate hair shone as it caught the mid-afternoon sun, just as her mother's did. They joined the long line of parents waiting with their children to sign in under a sign which read: 'Musical Theatre Camp: Sign in here'

Eva was bouncing up and down, chattering more and more excitedly as they approached the front of the queue.

"Mom! Mom! I'm finally here! I'm finally at my first theatre camp! I'm going to show everyone just how talented I am and I'm going to tell them all about you and how you're the best mommy ever and you're a huge star on Broadway and I'm going to be just like you one day!" she beamed up at her mother, cinnamon eyes sparkling.

"Evie, remember the conversation we had about showing off before we left," her mother reminded her gently.

"Yes, mom," Eva rolled her eyes and recited "I know I'm extremely talented but I need to remember that whilst I can perform to the best of my ability I should also think of other people and not hog the spotlight."

Her mother smiled. "That's it. And don't forget, no showing off about my job. I'm only your mom after all."

"My extremely famous mom who recently played the best Maria the world has ever seen in West Side Story on Broadway," Eva replied.

Her mother laughed. "Well, I suppose. But still, I don't want people to make friends with you because of your talent or your mom's job. I want them to make friends with you because you're Eva and you're a wonderful person."

Eva nodded and held her mother's hand as they arrived at the front of the queue and finally reached the desk.

"Hi, my name is Eva Rose Berry and this is my mom, Rachel Berry," she beamed.

The woman behind the desk looked up from her paperwork.

"_The _Rachel Berry?" she asked. "It's such a pleasure to meet you, Miss Berry. You're an inspiration to so many people, especially the children at this camp. I'm a huge fan."

"I'm glad to hear it," Rachel smiled, handing over Eva's paperwork and signing the forms in front of her.

"Can I go in now?" Eva begged, almost bursting with enthusiasm.

"Sure, go ahead" the woman behind the desk replied. "Follow the path round to the left and you'll get to the administration cabin where they'll assign your cabin and roommate."

Eva and Rachel rounded the corner together and stopped just outside the cabin.

"Evie, I'm going to go now if that's okay. I need to check in at the airport in half an hour." Rachel said.

Eva nodded "Okay, mom, I'll see you in two weeks' time!"

Rachel smiled at her daughter and enveloped her in a warm hug, which was slightly awkward due to the fact that Eva was already taller than her.

"I'm gonna miss you, Evie. Just remember to be yourself and have a great time. You can call me whenever you want."

"Thanks, mom. I love you," Eva kissed her mom on the cheek and took the handle on her suitcase again, pulling it towards the cabin door as her mother turned and walked away down the path, avoiding the whispers of "Is that Rachel Berry?", "_The _Rachel Berry?" which seemed to follow her everywhere she went.

As Eva entered the cabin, her eyes took a moment to adjust from the bright sunlight outside. She strolled up to the counter.

"Hi, I'm Eva Berry. Could you please tell me where I'm going to be staying and with whom. I have to tell you, my roommate should be able to appreciate my talent which may well be inferior to mine as I have an upbringing deeply rooting in musical theatre, mostly due to my mom's work. She's a star on Broadway."

"Well, hi Eva. It's a pleasure to meet you. You'll be staying in cabin 18. I'm afraid I can't find the list of roommates at the moment, but your roommate's name should be on the cabin door, along with yours. I'm sure you'll get along with her just fine."

Eva took the site map and cabin key the lady was offering her.

"Thank you very much," she said, flashing her best smile and pulling her bedazzled suitcase out of the door, heading for her cabin.

She strode along the sunny path, humming to herself. When she finally reached the cabin door, she saw the sign bearing its soon-to-be inhabitants' names.

"Eva Berry and Ariella Hudson" she read aloud.

She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a fresh sheet of gold star stickers, peeling one off and placing it on the door beside her name. She stood back to admire her handiwork and, satisfied with the result, inserted the cabin key into the lock and opened the door to her home for the next two weeks.

Eva entered into the room, pausing to take in her surroundings. Two beds lay on opposite sides of the room, a door to a small bathroom halfway between them.

She headed over to the bed on the left hand side and rested her suitcase at the foot of it, deciding she'd unpack in the two hours before the evening meal and talent show scheduled on her planner for that day.

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Eva finished putting her final poster on the wall just as the announcement for dinner sounded. Her roommate still hadn't showed up and she could only assume that she either wasn't coming or wasn't the most punctual of people.

She walked into the canteen holding her head high and sat down at a table near the door by a group of girls who looked around her age.

"Hi. I'm Eva Berry. Can I sit here?" she asked, feeling a little uncertain.

A girl with blonde hair and braces smiled at her.

"Sure," she said. "I'm Lily and this is Jenny and Mia. We're from California."

"I'm from New York," Eva told them, swinging her legs over the bench and beginning to eat.

They made small talk for the rest of the meal until Eva jumped up.

"We're going to be late for the talent show! Come on!" she urged. Her new friends followed her out of the dining hall to the theatre pavilion down the path.

She approached the man at the door, who was holding a list of names.

"Can I sign up here to be in the show?" she asked, barely waiting for his nod of confirmation before she neatly wrote her name on the list, sticking a star after it as usual. Her mind raced with suggestions of songs from her repertoire that she could perform.

"Hi, I'm Ariella Hudson and I'll be singing 'On My Own' from the seminal Broadway classic, Les Mis,"

Eva's head snapped up as she heard the British-accented voice ring out from the stage. When had her roommate arrived? And why was she singing the very song that Eva had planned to perform?

Her mouth almost dropped open as Ariella began to sing. She was _talented_. Eva's annoyance towards the girl began to turn into anger. She could do a far better version of the song herself. Her mother had played Eponine on Broadway just last year, for heaven's sake! A competitive fire began to rise up inside her as she thought quickly of another song to sing.

The beginning notes of 'Don't Rain On My Parade' blasted out and Eva began to sing. She'd seen a video of her mom performing this song when she was in Glee Club in high school and it had won the Sectional round for the whole team. Her mom had told her the story of how she'd saved the day many times before, although, come to think of it, she'd never mentioned _why _she'd needed to step in at the last minute. Her mom didn't like talking about Glee Club much, which had always made Eva curious because her mom liked talking and she and Uncle Kurt had met through Glee Club.

Eva reached the final note of the song, blasting it out long and loud with the lungs and voice she had inherited from her mother. Her grin of satisfaction returned as she finished – she'd definitely won this show, hands down.

She waited on the side of the stage as the camp director read out the names for third place and then second place.

"And the winner is…" Eva prepared her mega-watt smile and waited for the inevitable announcement of her name.

"It's a tie…" What?

"….Eva Berry and Ariella Hudson!" WHAT?

How had she _tied _with someone. Eva Rose Berry was the daughter of the most talented performer on Broadway. Who was Ariella Hudson to come and steal her spotlight?

She forced a smile as they received their trophy together on stage, but the she and her roommate shared once they were back in the wings said just one thing to each other:

You're going _down._

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><p><strong>So... how was it? I know there wasn't any Finchel in this chapter but they will be coming soon, I promise.<strong>

**I'd love to hear what you think - even two words would be wonderful! Reviews make me write faster so if you want more soon just click that little blue button down there. :)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again! Thank you so much to everyone who read/reviewed the first chapter! I'm sorry I took so long to update - I'll try to update at least once a week. I**

**There's still no Finchel in this chapter but I promise there should only be one or two more before we get to see them!**

**I hope you enjoy it :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or The Parent Trap**

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><p>Ariella finished belting out the final note of the song and turned to look at her dad who was currently driving the car, tapping out a drum beat as he mirrored her crooked grin.<p>

"Awesome song Dad" she smiled, turning her head to look out of the window where the gates of the lodge were just coming into view.

"Thanks, A" her father, Finn, replied "I think it's gonna be a favourite on the tour next week."

Ariella sighed "I wish I wasn't away for your band's first tour. Uncle Kurt told me when he called last week that he'd spent ages planning it all out for you and it sounds amazing!"

Finn laughed "Well, would you really expect Uncle Kurt to plan something half-heartedly?" he joked.

They pulled up through the gates and stopped outside a small cabin where a woman was sitting at the desk inside. Finn handed Ariella her pink suitcase.

"We're quite late. Want me to come in with you to check everything's sorted okay?" he asked her.

Ariella rolled her eyes and brushed her bangs out of her eyes.

"It's fine dad. I'm sure it'll be ok."

Finn reached for his daughter, hugging her close.

"I'll miss you, A. Make sure you call me sometime. Grandma and Grandpa will be at home when you get back. Oh, and don't stay up too late."

"Dad, it's only a theatre camp, relax," Ariella giggled, punching her father's shoulder.

"See you soon!" she called as he got back into the car and began to drive away.

She turned round and took hold of her suitcase handle, heading into the cabin next to her. The woman looked up questioningly as she entered.

"Hi, I'm Ariella Hudson. Sorry I'm late, I've flown here from London and our flight was delayed a few hours. My dad's kinda famous and they had to make sure there weren't any paps sneaking aboard the plane."

The woman nodded and smiled, handing her a key and a site map.

"You're in cabin 18. Go and put your suitcase in there and then head to the dining hall. You should be in time to catch the end of dinner before the talent show."

Ariella's eyes lit up.

"There's a talent show tonight? Okay, thanks!" She shoved the keys into her pocket and headed out of the door for cabin 18.

"Eva Berry" she read aloud as she reached the door, noticing the gold star sticker beside her roommate's name. It was similar to the one her dad kept stuck in his wallet. She'd asked him about why it was there once but he didn't seem to want to talk about it.

Ariella dumped the suitcase by the side of the bed which wasn't already occupied with pillows and stuffed toys. She gave the room a quick once over and decided she'd better head to the dining hall and unpack later.

The dining hall was only a short walk away and it didn't take her long to find it. She sat down at the table nearest the door by a couple of girls, swinging her legs over the bench.

"Hey, can I sit here?" she asked them.

"Yeah, sure. What's your name?" the smaller one with dark hair asked.

"Ariella Hudson. I'm from London, England."

"Yeah, I kind of guessed that from your accent. It's so cute! I'm Ellie, by the way, and this is Liz. So how come you've come all this way to go to camp?"

Ariella smiled, relieved by their acceptance.

"My dad sent me here. He's from Ohio but he moved to England before he had me to start a band. They're quite famous back home but I don't think their music's reached America yet. But, yeah, they don't really have theatre camps back in the UK so my dad decided I could come here."

Before they could reply, an announcement sounded over the loudspeaker system:

"Last chance to sign up to appear in the talent show tonight. Go to the theatre pavilion in the next 5 minutes."

"Oh, gosh, I'd better go, you guys. Do you want to be in the show too?"Ariella asked her new friends.

"Not really, but I'll come with you anyway. We'll come cheer you on," Liz said, getting up and heading out of the hall with Ariella and Ellie following her closely.

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Ariella smiled to herself as she waited backstage, watching the act before her. She knew she'd picked the perfect song and her voice was far stronger than any of the other singers who had already performed.

She smoothed down her hair, made sure her bangs were neatly in place and stepped out onto the brightly-lit stage.

"Hi, I'm Ariella Hudson and I'll be singing 'On My Own' from the seminal Broadway classic, Les Mis."

The piano introduction began softly and Ariella started to sing, pouring emotion into her performance.

As the song drew to a close, she heard the audience cheering and whooping and smiled delightedly before heading to wait in the wings to watch the final act before the results.

"I'm Eva Rose Berry and I'm going to sing Don't Rain on My Parade from Funny Girl"

The voice of the girl who had just begun singing shook Ariella out of her thoughts. This was her roommate? The girl who was belting out a song with a voice to rival hers? Anger began to seep through Ariella's mind as she saw the girl give a smug smile and bow at the end of the song.

The camp director began to announce the positions and Ariella did her best to stay calm and listen out for her name, ignoring the hostile glances she was receiving from Eva.

"And the winner is…" Ariella held her breath and crossed her fingers.

"It's a tie... Eva Berry and Ariella Hudson!"

What? How had that smug little show-off tied with _her_? Ariella forced herself to smile widely as they took to the stage to be presented with the trophy but the second she was back in the wings her eyes flashed angrily at her roommate, who was glaring back at her.

The door to the cabin burst open as Eva stormed in, much in the same way as she had stormed out of the theatre after the trophy was presented.

Ariella looked up from where she was sitting on her bed, arms folded, and watched her throw herself down on the bed opposite.

"What did you do with the trophy?" Eva demanded.

"I put it on my shelf. I guessed you didn't want it seeing as you decided to storm out,"Ariella replied snarkily.

"I stormed out because it was _my _trophy!"

"_Your _trophy? Which part of '_tie_' do you not understand?"

"The part where I deserved the trophy and you didn't because I'm clearly more talented than you and my mother is a Tony award-winning star on Broadway where I will one day follow in her footsteps!"

"Oh, yeah? And what about the part where you acted like a spoiled toddler who couldn't accept that someone just _might_ be better than her? And, FYI, my dad's famous too. He's the drummer in 'Papercut'!"

Eva laughed humourlessly "Yeah, right. I've never even heard of them. I bet they suck. LIKE YOU!" she yelled.

"UGH, JUST GROW UP WILL YOU!" Ariella screamed, thrusting the trophy at Eva, flipping her hair and storming off into the bathroom.

She blinked back the angry tears that threatened to spill. It was only a stupid talent contest. And she was friends with Ellie and Liz so who cared if her roommate was horrible? Wiping her eyes, she marched back into the room and began to unpack her suitcase and get ready for bed, keeping her back turned away from Eva.

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><p><strong>So... thoughts? Did you like it? Was it too similar to the first chapter? Let me know! The more reviews I get, the harder I'll work to get another chapter up soon!<strong>

**Thank you so much for reading!**

**Abi :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everyone! I'm finally, finally updating! I'm so sorry you've had to wait so long to read the next chapter (if any of you are still reading!) but I haven't been having such a great time recently. To make up for it, I'm planning to try and update as regularly as possible, meaning the next chapter will hopefully up by the end of the weekend at the absolute latest. It might even be up tonight if I finish it in time! :D**

**Also, I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has reviewed this fic so far. It's now got the most reviews of any of my fics and I finally worked out how to see how many views/alerts it had (yes, I'm a complete noob and had no idea how to do it before :p) and I was completely overwhelmed. **

**Anyways, sorry for the long wait and sorry for such a long AN! ****Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Glee isn't mine and neither is The Parent Trap**

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><p>"Miss Berry! Your phone's ringing!" came a shout from somewhere in the stalls of the theatre.<p>

"Excuse me – one moment," Rachel said to her co-star, rushing down the steps to find her bag and digging through it to locate the source of the ringing. An unknown number showed up on the screen and she frowned with confusion before answering.

"Hello, this is Rachel Barbra Berry, how can I help you?"

"Hey, Mom!" Eva's voice replied, giggling at what she called Rachel's 'posh phone voice'. Rachel's face broke out into a wide beam.

"Evie, baby, hi! How are you? How's camp? Are you having a good time?"

"It's amazing! I'm having so much fun! We've done all sorts of music workshops and activities. Of course, I'm finding it a little easy due to my perfect pitch and spectacular lung capacity but it's still so exciting," Eva told her, grinning brightly.

"I'm glad you're enjoying it so much! What are you working on right now?"

Eva's smile faltered a little at Rachel's question.

"Um, we're working on a duets competition today. The competition's next week. We got allocated our partners today," she answered.

"Oh, who are you working with?"

"My roommate."

Rachel heard the sudden unhappiness creeping into her daughter's tone.

"What's wrong, Evie?" she asked worriedly.

"It's just my roommate. She's so _talented _and so _annoying _and I tied with her at the talent show on the first night and now we both hate each other!" she threw the hand that wasn't holding the phone up in disgust, dramatically rolling her eyes as she did so.

Rachel was silent for a moment before replying.

"Well, Evie, you listen to me. Maybe you have more in common than you think. If she tied with you, she must be talented and I'm sure you two could really pull off something amazing if you can put your differences behind you and work together. Remember all the stories I've told you about Uncle Kurt and I? Sometimes, when two incredibly talented, competitive people are competing against each other, it's easy for them not to notice how alike they really are and how much they could understand one another if they try. Do you remember Mercedes who you met at Uncle Kurt's birthday celebration? She and I used to fight for weeks on end in high school to outshine each other until we eventually sang together and accepted each other's talent as something which we should appreciate. There are so many stars in the sky and sometimes we have to let others shine just as bright."

Eva smiled as her mother's comforting words washed over her all the way from New York. "Thanks, mom. I promise I'll try. Even if she is all posh and annoying and uses weird English words."

"She's English?" Rachel asked curiously.

"Yeah, her dad's in a band over there, I think. I don't know why she came over here to camp though."

Rachel's co-star began motioning to her from the stage and she sighed a little.

"Okay, baby, I have to go now. Call me soon. I love you," she said, motioning back as she did so.

"Love you too, mom. Tell Uncle Kurt I said hi!" Eva answered before ending the call and stepping out of the payphone booth she'd been using. She smiled to herself before heading back to the cabin to find Ariella.

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"Hey there A!" Finn greeted as he answered the call, slipping out of the band rehearsal to find a quieter place to talk.

"Hi Dad!" Ariella's cheery voice replied.

"So… how's it going?" Finn asked his daughter.

"Fantastic, actually. I'm really enjoying the whole programme. I've made some new friends too; they're called Liz and Ellie."

"Sounds great," Finn grinned "Are they your roommates?"

Ariella hesitated. "Actually, no. My roommate's kind of annoying. We tied at the talent show on the first night but she thinks she deserved to win. We kind of had a massive fight… and now we've been paired up for the duets competition," she answered truthfully.

"Wow, she must be pretty talented if she tied with you, A. Maybe you can make it work for this competition. I'm sure you could pull something epic out of the bag if you tried," Finn offered.

"Yeah, I guess. She's just _such _a diva. That's what I call her in my head; Eva the diva," Ariella smiled a little.

"Eva?" Finn's voice quietened suddenly as he heard the name. A sudden rush of emotion caused his eyes to fill with tears as he heard the name…

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"_Congratulations Mr and Mrs Hudson. You've got two healthy baby girls."_

_The nurse handed one of the babies to him and the other to his wife who looked up at him from the hospital bed, eyes shining._

"_What are their names going to be?" he whispered, not wanting to disturb the tranquil beauty of the moment._

"_I was thinking Ariella…"_

"…_Eva." Finn spoke softly, gently interrupting his wife. _

"_Can this one be called Eva?" Something about the name just sounded right. He looked down at the newborn baby in his arms and then across to her sister, nestled with his wife._

"_Ariella and Eva Hudson," she whispered, the tenderness and love in her eyes causing Finn's to begin watering with love for his family._

"_Ariella and Eva Hudson," he repeated. It sounded perfect._

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"Dad?" Ariella's voice shook him out of his reverie. Finn blinked and shook his head slightly to clear it. What was the use in dwelling on the past?

"Sorry, A. Must've spaced out for a minute. You were saying?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, I was just talking about the duets competition. I suppose I'd better go and find her if we're going to get our act together by next week."

"Well, I guess I'd better get back to rehearsal too. By the way, Grandma and Grandpa send their love. They're staying for a few weeks so you'll get to see them when you get back." Finn said.

"Okay, Dad. Love you!" Ariella called.

"Love you too, A," Finn's voice replied before he pressed the end call button. His mind flashed, just for a second, back to Ariella's roommate. He quickly tried to distract himself from the flashback that her name had triggered. Eva Hudson had been long gone and there was no point thinking of her, or his wife. He and Ariella had spent the last 11 years with just the two of them and he loved her to pieces.

Pushing all thoughts of the past out of his mind, Finn turned to go back into the room where the band was practising.

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><p><strong>What did you think? Let me know! As I said, I'll try to post chapter 4 asap. <strong>

**Also, I now have tumblr (.com) so I'll post on there when I'm updating if anyone's interested.**

**Thank you so much for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**So, here's the next chapter as I promised. Thank you so much to everyone who read, reviewed, alerted or favourited the last one! I'm so grateful for every single one of your comments. Apologies for the lack of Finchel in this chapter but it was getting really long. I promise there's going to be a lot more of Finn and Rachel soon! I hope you enjoy this chapter :)**

**Disclaimer: Neither Glee nor The Parent Trap are mine**

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><p>Ariella jumped as her roommate ran across the cafeteria, calling her name.<p>

"Where have you been? I've been looking for you all day!"

"You were looking for me? What for? To criticise my singing some more? Well, excuse me, but I'm fed up of your ridiculously snide comments." She couldn't help but let the angry remark out.

Eva huffed slightly at her roommate's assumption. She couldn't believe she was actually going to try and make it work with this girl.

"Actually, no." she looked up at her roommate's face, which now showed an expression of slight confusion. "But seeing as you seem to think that's all I can do, I have to tell you that you _really _need to work on your high F sharps. They sounded utterly disgusting when you were practising earlier."

Ariella's confusion turned to anger. "Oh, yeah? Can you do anything other than insult people? You really are quite the little controllist, aren't you, Eva Berry?"

"For your information, controllist isn't a word. And, yes, I may be a little _controlling_, but at least I don't go round stealing other people's spotlight despite the fact that their talent is clearly far superior to mine. Why don't you just go back to your stupid dad in stupid England and sing your stupid songs where I can't hear you?" Eva's anger began to get the better of her as Ariella's words stung her. She felt tears forming behind her eyes at her words. Why couldn't anybody see that she was just trying to help? All anyone ever thought of her as was some insulting, overbearing diva with a big voice.

"You're being completely ridiculous!" Ariella threw her hands up in the air. "You just can't deal with the fact that somebody just might be as talented as you. You've spent your whole life with your perfect Broadway mom singing your silly perfect songs and you can't deal with the fact that maybe there's someone else who can come in and compete with your talent."

The volume of their shouting match had escalated until almost everyone in the room was staring at them. As they stood, glaring at each other, neither of them noticed the whispers that were flying around the cafeteria:

"Woah, are they related?"…. "They sure look similar"…. "Are you nuts? They're from different continents!"…. "But look at them!"

They two brunettes stood, Jewish nose to Jewish nose, almost exactly the same height. Two pairs of cinnamon eyes stared at each other; two pairs of full lips hurled insults back and forth between them. Were it not for Ariella's bangs and Eva's slightly longer hair, it would have been almost impossible to tell the two apart.

Suddenly, they were being held at arm's-length from each other by the senior camp officer. She spoke seriously, her voice carrying through the virtually silent room.

"Miss Berry, Miss Hudson. We do not condone this sort of behaviour here. This camp is a place where everyone comes to enjoy themselves and each other's talent, not a place for diva fits and ridiculous arguments. Henceforth, you two are banned from participating in any of the activities and will be confined to your cabin until you have learned to resolve your differences and are able to work with each other maturely and sensibly."

Her strong hands guided them out of the doors of the cafeteria, away from the stares of their fellow campers, all the way back to the cabin. She ignored their equally angry protests and threats, turning to them to say "There will be someone along to check on you and deliver your breakfast at 10am tomorrow" before shutting the door, leaving Eva and Ariella alone in the room.

Eva threw herself down on the bed, her anger giving way to tears which she rubbed furiously at. What was her mom going to say?

Ariella kicked the bedpost on the opposite side of the room, attempting to relieve some of her anger. The pain, however, just seemed to make her tears begin to fall faster.

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Eva clutched her stuffed monkey to her chest as she rolled over in bed, still sniffling slightly. The moonlight shone through a gap in the curtains, illuminating the clock on the wall which told her it was nearly midnight. The events of a few hours previously still ran through her mind, preventing her from being able to sleep.

A rustling movement from across the room drew her eyes to the occupant of the other bed, whom she could just make out looking up at the ceiling.

"Ariella?" she whispered hesitantly.

Ariella moved again, turning to look at her.

"What?"

Eva took a deep breath, remembering her mother's words from earlier that day.

"I-I'm-I didn't mean to- Your F sharps are pretty good, actually." She admitted.

Ariella was silent.

"You were right," Eva continued. "I am controlling. And, well, I guess I'm just used to being the most talented. But… you're actually really talented too, you know."

Ariella sighed a little before replying. "I didn't mean what I said about you. I don't really think you're just insulting and controlling. You're amazing. You just sometimes need to appreciate other people a bit more, too."

Eva smiled, gaining a little more confidence. "That's what my mom says. I told her about you today. She said you must be talented if you could tie with me. She and my uncle used to fight all the time until they learned to accept and appreciate each other's talent and she told me to do the same."

"She sounds nice. I'm sorry I insulted her earlier. I know she's wonderfully talented. My uncle lives in New York and he's been to see her perform before." Ariella whispered back.

"I'm sorry I insulted your dad, too," Eva replied. "I bet his band's good. Maybe I could listen to their songs tomorrow?" she suggested.

"Yeah, I have them on my ipod."

"You know, Ariella?" Eva asked. "Maybe we could get along better if we knew more about each other." She crawled out of bed, digging around in her bedazzled suitcase until she found what she was looking for. She took the blanket off her bed and spread it on the floor, throwing her pillow down on top and sitting on it, patting the space next to her.

Ariella smiled as she clambered out of bed, bringing her own pillow down to join Eva.

"Do you want a cookie?" Eva offered, holding out a packet of Oreos.

"Thanks. I love Oreos!" Ariella took one and began to nibble it.

"So…how come you've come to camp over here? Isn't England like a billion miles away from here? "

Ariella giggled. "Actually it's more like 3000. You live in New York right? How far away's that?"

Eva giggled too. "I have no idea actually. But nowhere near that far! Anyways, you didn't answer my question. Why didn't you go to camp in England?"

"They don't really have summer camps like this back home. And my dad thought it would be a good idea for me to come seeing as I love performing so much. He's from Ohio originally but he's lived in England since just after I was born. I guess we had to move because of the band or something. He doesn't really talk about living in Ohio very much. Grandpa and Grandma still live there though."

"So it's just you and your dad at home then?" Eva asked.

"Yeah," Ariella turned round and pulled her phone out of her backpack. "That's his band. You can't see him very well because he's behind the drums at the back." She pointed, "I took it at their last rehearsal before I came here. Sometimes he lets me play his drums too. We do everything together; he's like my best friend. My friends from school think it's really strange but I've always been that close to him. What about you and your dad? What's he like?"

Eva shrugged slightly as she replied. "I don't have a dad. It's just me and my mom at home. She never even mentions my dad so I've never really wanted to ask. I guess Uncle Kurt's the closest to a dad I have."

"You have an Uncle Kurt too? That's so weird!" Ariella said.

"Well, he's not really my uncle," Eva amended, "He's mom's best friend from high school. He's not even related to me but I've just always called him Uncle Kurt since I can remember."

Ariella took another cookie out of the packet and started to eat it. The girls sat in silence for a few seconds.

"How old are you?" Eva broke the silence.

"Nearly 12. It's my birthday on 29th August actually."

Eva almost choked on her Oreo at Ariella's reply.

"No way! That's my birthday too!"

"Ooooh, spooky!" Ariella laughed.

She yawned slightly and stretched.

"Hey, look. It's already one o'clock. I suppose we'd better try and get some sleep," she suggested, brushing Oreo crumbs off her pyjamas and throwing her pillow back onto the bed.

Eva clambered back into bed with her cuddly monkey, snuggling down under the covers. Despite the time, she still didn't really feel tired.

"Did you ever know your mom, Ariella?" she asked, hoping to keep the conversation going.

"No; she never lived in England with me and my dad, I don't think. The only thing I know is that she was really beautiful. But we never talk about my mom. It's the only thing I've never been able to speak to my dad about. I do have one picture of her though."

"Can I see it?" Eva asked curiously, "I'll show you the only picture I have of my dad if you want. It's only half a picture really. I wish I had a proper picture but someone ripped it right down the middle ages ago."

Ariella flung back the covers, suddenly far less sleepy.

"You're kidding, right?"

Eva stared at her as Ariella grabbed her suitcase and began tossing things out of it, rummaging through until she grabbed something from the bottom. Holding it to her chest, she came overto where Eva was now sitting up in bed.

"This is the picture of my mom. I've had it since I was a baby. And it's always been ripped too… right down the middle."

Eva jumped out of her own bed, flinging clothes out of her own suitcase until she found what she was looking for. Clutching the photo against her, she took a deep breath.

"Okay, one the count of three we're going to show each other our parents' photos," she decided. Hesitating for a second, she reached out and took Ariella's hand.

"One, two…three."

Their voices spoke in unison as they turned the pictures simultaneously and both let out gasps of surprise.

Eva covered her mouth with a shaking hand as she held out the picture of her father to touch its other half.

For the first time in 11 years, the two halves of the photo connected, showing Finn and Rachel onstage at Nationals 2012, their senior year.

"That's my dad," Ariella whispered.

"That's my mom," Eva whispered.

"So my dad's your dad…?" Ariella spoke, uncertainly.

"And my mom's your mom," Eva completed the sentence.

"And we share the same birthday…" Ariella trailed off.

"But, that makes us…"

"Twins." They whispered the word at the same time.

Eva looked up at her sister, eyes shining.

"I have a twin sister," she smiled, throwing her arms around Ariella and letting the joyful tears flow down her face.

Their pictures of Finn and Rachel fell to the floor. But somehow, even as they fell, the separate halves stayed attached to each other, as if they had been apart for too long and were clinging to each other, rejoicing in the picture's completion.

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><p><strong>So they've finally found out that they're twins! But what does that mean for Finchel? Reviews will help to speed up the posting of the next chapter :D<strong>

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello! Sorry this update took a while; this chapter just wouldn't work for me for some reason. I'm still not really happy with it but I wanted to bring in some Finchel (even though it's angsty) and I needed this chapter somewhere because it's kinda important to the plot. **It's meant to be set the same night as the previous chapter so that's why I included it here. **I hope it isn't too much of a sudden change from the last chapter - next chapter we'll be back to Ariella and Eva so don't worry! **

**Thnak you so much to everyone who read/reviewed/favourited/alerted. Every single one of you who reads this is amazing, so thank you very much!**

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><p>"Rachel?" Kurt grumbled into his phone, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to keep them open. "What has possibly possessed you to call me at <em>two fifteen <em>in the morning?"

Before she could reply, there was a loud boom of thunder, effectively answering Kurt's question. He could hear her muffled sobs on the other end of the line and quickly began rummaging through his closet as she spoke.

"I'm scared, Kurt," she whispered.

"Okay, okay, don't worry Rachel. Just try and relax until I get there. I'm getting ready right now," Kurt spoke soothingly, pulling on a pair of pants. Normally he wouldn't go out without at least an hour to get ready but his previous experiences with Rachel and thunderstorms had proved to be a necessary exception to the rule.

On the other end of the phone, Rachel was huddled in a ball under the bedclothes, clutching a pillow to her chest, tears pouring from her eyes faster than the rain outside. She'd always hated storms but since that night eleven years ago, the thunder and lightning were nothing compared to the memories that were conjured up at the sound of a storm…

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_They were yelling at each other. Again. _

_It seemed like all they could do these days was fight over the smallest things. Things which used to be tiny disagreements turned into full-blown screaming at each other, both of them too stubborn to give in. _

_Of course, they'd always make up at some point, kissing passionately, whispering their love and ending up having make-up sex but it would always start again within a few weeks or so. Lately, Rachel felt like she couldn't do anything without somehow annoying Finn and he couldn't seem to do anything that didn't annoy her._

_When she'd come home late from her rehearsal, tired and stressed, to find Finn lounging on the sofa, half asleep, something snapped._

"_Finn Hudson!" She shouted, slapping him on the chest._

"_What? What did I do now?" he sat up, immediately defensive, angering her even more._

"_Don't act like you don't know. The plates are still out, the twins' bottles are just lying on the table, the clean clothes are still not in the closet and you're just lying there. Do you even do anything for this family? Do you expect me to do everything myself?"_

_Finn's temper immediately started to rise._

"_You do everything? And who looks after our children when you're out swanning off to some party or other with your theatre friends? Who works their ass off every single day just to come home and do more work because their wife's just 'so tired, Finn' or 'too busy, Finn'? Who makes you dinner when you're too busy with your precious work to do it yourself?" he challenged, rising off the couch, a flash of lightning outside illuminating his figure._

"_You think I don't work hard too?" Rachel yelled, "You think this comes easy? I've spent my whole life working for this. I've been bullied and harassed by so many people just for being myself. I've spent months auditioning for every single role I could possibly find, working in that filthy café just so we could pay the rent. And now I'm finally here with the chance to star in an off-Broadway show and you're just acting like it's all been handed to me and I've never had to work for it. I'm following my dreams, Finn; it's what you've always believed I could do!"_

"_Yeah, well maybe I don't want to believe it anymore!"_

_Rachel gasped as his words penetrated her skin. Finn had always, __**always**_ _believed in her, even when she didn't believe in herself. Angry and stubborn, she pushed back her hurt, retaliating._

"_You don't? Maybe I don't either. I can support myself perfectly well enough to make up for your utterly abysmal attempts at even trying. I practically run this entire house by myself as it is. I can't believe I ever married someone as narrow-minded and misogynistic as you, Finn Hudson."_

"_Well, if you're so independent, I guess you just don't need me then." The volume of Finn's voice dropped several decibels from his previous yelling, resulting in a calm, controlled tone, followed by utter silence._

_A loud boom of thunder rumbled and Rachel became aware of the noise of two bawling babies coming from the room next door. _

"_I guess I don't," she said quietly, her soft voice seeming to echo in the darkened room._

"_So this is it then, is it? After everything we've done together, after I worked my ass off to follow you all the way to New York, you're just going to tell me you didn't need me in the first place?" his volume began to crescendo again, over the noise of the now screaming babies and the thunder._

"_That's what __**you**__ said, Finn; that's what I agreed to. I. Don't. Need. You." Rachel could feel her voice shaking, though she couldn't tell if it was because of anger or the pain that seemed to be building in her heart._

"_Good because I DON'T NEED YOU EITHER!" Finn snapped, turning on his heel and storming out of the apartment door. _

_It took about 10 seconds for Rachel's feet to catch up with her brain and then she was running, hurtling out of the door and chasing him down the stairs._

"_Finn Christopher Hudson, you come back here RIGHT NOW! Finn! FINN!"_

_She caught up with him just as he opened the front door of the apartment block. He stood there in the doorway, silhouetted against the night sky as lightning flashed over his features._

"_Maybe we were just the biggest mistake of each other's lives."_

_His eyes betrayed a mixture of complete fury and heartbreak, matching the emotions Rachel could feel crashing into her._

_Before she could answer, he was sloshing down the sidewalk in the torrential rain._

"_FINN!" Rachel bellowed, but the storm was so loud by now that her voice was just swept up in it and carried away._

"_FINN!" The wind was whirling into the house, blowing the downpour into her face as she stood on the doorstep, too terrified of the storm to go out but too terrified of Finn leaving to close it. He'd walked out once or twice before, but he'd come back. He was going to come back, right?_

_A gust of wind slammed the door closed, knocking Rachel backwards onto the hall floor. Tears created their own rainstorm on her face, emotions crashing over her like the biggest roll of thunder and her heart being torn apart like it had just been struck by the most ferocious lightning bolt._

_She stumbled back up the stairs to the apartment, where her ears were assaulted by the wailing twins' cries. Finding her way into their room through the dark apartment, she flicked on the light and gathered both her daughters into her arms._

"_Shhhhh. It's okay," she whispered, trying to stem the flow of tears by convincing herself. "Daddy's coming back soon. Don't cry; Mommy's here. It's all going to be fine."_

_Rachel stayed in their room, holding her daughters close until sunrise when the storm had finally cleared, leaving behind a fine, damp drizzle._

_Drizzle. The sight of his favourite weather made her heart ache even more._

"_Sleep tight, Ari." She kissed her daughter's head tenderly, turning to tuck in Eva. "Sweet dreams, Evie," she whispered to the other sleeping baby, covering her in the blanket._

"_Please come back, Finn," she whispered softly, "I need you."_

_He didn't come back._

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Kurt's arms held Rachel protectively as her sobs began to subside, the memory slowly regressing back to one of many stored in her brain.

"I'm sorry, Kurt. It's just, I've always had Eva to hold my hand during other storms before. I'm scared for her, Kurt. She hates storms almost as much as I do."

Kurt rubbed Rachel's back soothingly as she took a deep drink from the glass of water next to her.

"Don't worry. That's what friends are for, right? And I'm sure Eva's fine. There probably isn't even a storm where she is. Why don't you call her in the morning and check she's okay?"

Rachel nodded. "Thanks, Kurt, I will do. I feel much better," she smiled, dabbing at her eyes. "I'm gonna hug you now," she warned him, turning and wrapping her arms around her best friend. "You can go now if you want. I don't want to be on the receiving end of your wrath when you wake up looking like you need another five hours beauty sleep," she giggled.

"Look after yourself, Rachel," was Kurt's reply as he left the bedroom.

The quietness in the room was interrupted only by the sound of the drizzle against the window. Now that she was no longer afraid, for the moment at least, Rachel began to feel that familiar feeling of the scar in her heart closing from a gaping wound to a manageable hole again.

She thought of her daughter, far away at camp. She thought of her other daughter, even further away at who-knew-where. She drifted off to sleep, thinking of her ex-husband, so far away, so long ago, but still out there, somewhere.

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><p><strong>What did you think? Too much angst? I hope it wasn't too depressing!<strong>

**I'd really, really appreciate feedback on this chapter even more than usual because I'm not sure about it at all, so I'd be very grateful if you could review, even if it's only one or two words.**

**I'll try and get the next chapter up soon! Thanks for reading! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! Once again, sorry for such a long deay in updating. I've only got two more weeks of school and then hopefully my updates will be faster :) A huge thank you to evryone who read/reviewed/alerted/favourited the last chapter - your input is really appreciated. I love you all!**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Glee**

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><p>Chinks of sunlight shone through the gaps in the cabin curtains, shining directly onto the faces of the two sleeping girls sprawled across a pile of blankets.<p>

Ariella squinted as the light woke her and turned to look at Eva's face – her _sister's _face – next to her. She sat up, the events of the night rushing back to her and filling her with a whole new wave of excitement. She'd spent her whole life as an only child of a single father, accepting that she'd never know anything about her mother and yet here she was, lying on the floor beside her twin sister, a photograph of their parents next to them.

Carefully, Ariella sat up and reached out a hand to hold the two pieces of photograph next to each other. Warmth filled her as she studied her mom's face, noting the similarities between their appearances: the chocolate-coloured bangs; the full mouth. Whilst Ariella and Eva had their both Finn's height and his eyes, it was clear that both of them were almost the spitting image of their mother.

The thing that really glued Ariella's eyes to the picture, though, was the pure emotion on both Finn and Rachel's faces as they were singing. Her inner hopeless romantic sighed. She'd never known anything about her parents before that night but even to her it was evident they loved each other. If only there was some way they could meet again, she was certain that the love exuding from the picture couldn't ever go away completely.

Instantly, Ariella's brain began spewing out ideas of romantic reunions. She looked idly over at Eva, wishing she'd wake up so they could talk more about their parents and that's when the perfect plan hit her like a bolt of lightning.

"EVA!" she grabbed her sister, shaking her awake, "Evie, wake up – I've just had the best idea _ever_!"

Before Eva could even come to her sentences, Ariella was off, racing through her plan and tripping over her words in excitement.

"Woah, slow down a little! Can you say that again?" Eva giggled.

"Okay, okay. I'm just so excited!"Ariella jumped up as she spoke, hands moving animatedly as she explained her plan:

"We're twins, right? _Identical_ twins."

"Yeah, so-"

"Shh – I'm talking!" Ariella interrupted. "Well, isn't it obvious? We can swap places! Nobody can tell us apart, especially not when they haven't seen us together for eleven years! And that way – "

"–our parents will _have_ to meet again to trade us back!" Eva completed the sentence, "Ari, you're an absolute genius!" Her face lit up and she hopped over to her sister, throwing her arms round her in excitement.

"Let's get started – we don't have a moment to lose!"

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Two hours later, the twins sat on their cabin floor, opposite each other.

"Okay, I'll test you first," Eva said, scrolling through her phone to find the pictures they'd been using to identify her family in New York. She held up the first picture.

"I know Uncle Kurt already," Ariella reminded her, pointing to the picture.

"Fine, I was just making sure," Eva slid her finger over the phone, changing the picture.

"That's mom. Easy peasy."

"Okay, smarty-pants!" Eva teased, holding up the next picture – a man with a rectangular head and long brown hair.

"That's Rick. He's mom's agent."

"And that just leaves…"

"Grandpa Hiram and Grandad Leroy," Ariella grinned confidently, pointing at each of them in turn before picking up her phone to test Eva.

"Grandma Carole and Grandpa Burt!" Eva smiled in delight at the faces of her newly-discovered grandparents.

"Okay, and what about the band?"

"That's Jack, that's Andy and that's Dan," She told Ariella, pointing to them all, and then folding her arms, satisfied with her knowledge.

"We've _so _got this sorted!" Ariella exclaimed, high-fiving Eva. As she did so, she caught sight of them both in the mirror and another thought occurred to her.

"Evie, what about our hair?" she pointed, running a finger over her bangs.

Eva's excitement quickly turned to a sort of dread as she thought about her precious hair being cut off. She was very proud of her long, silky brunette locks. True, Ariella's hair was still just below shoulder-length but Eva had spent a lot of time growing her hair to the perfect length. Only the thought of her parents being reunited allowed the words to slip out of her mouth:

"Okay. You're going to have to give me a haircut."

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Eva peered into the mirror, examining her new look. The bangs felt strange on her forehead and she missed the feeling of her hair on her back but overall she quite liked her new look. After all, Ariella could rock it and they did look identical.

She put a hand over her mouth, gasping suddenly at a new flaw in their plan.

"Ari…you don't have your ears pierced do you?" she whispered, fingering the gold star earrings on her own.

Ariella's expression would have been comedic in another situation but, as it was, Eva's face pretty much matched hers.

"What are we going to do?" Eva panicked, beginning to wring her hands dramatically.

Ariella winced as she spoke. "You're going to have to do it for me."

Eva's eyes grew even wider in horror as she realised what Ariella was suggesting.

"WHAT? Are you nuts? I can't do that! I'm not professionally trained and what if I, like, mutilated your ear or something and you had to spend the rest of your life with a paper bag over your head?" she screeched.

"It's for our parents. It'll be worth it," Ariella's shaky voice betrayed her uncertainty but she spoke firmly, trying desperately to convince herself.

"Okay. Okay." Eva tried to keep her mounting panic under control, "How do I do this? I don't even know what to use."

"We're going to need something sharp and a way of sterilising it. And some ice. And preferably something I can put behind my ear when you…" she made a stabbing motion with her hand, not wanting to complete the sentence for fear of freaking herself out to much.

They managed to find the necessary items relatively quickly, assembling them on Eva's bed.

Ariella held the ice behind her ear, flinching at the cold.

"How long do I leave this on for?" she asked.

"I guess until it goes numb?" Eva guessed, picking up the sterilised pin and the piece of apple.

It seemed like several silent hours before Ariella said "I think it's gone quite numb now. You'd better do it."

"Okay. Oh, God. Oh, God," Eva could feel herself going into panic mode. She started to take deep breaths to calm herself.

"Evie, hurry up. It'll be over quicker if you just do it. Like pulling off a plaster," Ariella tried to encourage her.

"Plaster?"

"Band-Aid. Whatever. Just do it."

Eva screwed up her courage. She forced her hands to stop shaking. Quickly, before she could change her mind, she shoved the apple behind Ariella's ear and stabbed the pin forward.

A piercing scream filled the cabin and all Eva could think was '_One down, one to go._'

xxxxxxxxxxxx

The girls' breathing slowed back to a vaguely normal pace as they sat in stunned silence. Ariella gingerly raised her hand to feel her tender ear, biting her lip even as the pain began to recede.

"Is it okay?" Eva broke the silence, wary of her sister's reaction.

"Yeah, I think so," Ariella said, relaxing slightly as she realised her ear hadn't fallen off or something.

They caught each other's eyes and both let out a shaky laugh.

"Oh my God, I can't believe I just did that," Eva giggled.

"I can't believe I just let you," was Ariella's equally giggly answer.

"But now we look like proper twins!" Eva laughed, pointing in the mirror where they could see two identical people looking back at them in a strange mix of wonder and amusement.

"Operation Get Finn and Rachel Together is officially on!" Ariella cheered.

"Or OGFART for short!" Eva burst out laughing as she worked out the acronym.

Ariella snorted with laughter. "We can't call it that! But we do need a shorter name. How about… Operation Rachinn?"

"I prefer Finchel," Eva suggested, "It sounds prettier somehow."

It sounds like a type of pastry," Ariella smiled, "But I like it."

"Operation Finchel it is then!"

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**Two Weeks Later**

The harsh voice blared out of the megaphone, filling the humid summer air:

"Ariella Hudson, please come to the front gate for your taxi to the airport"

"That's you, Evie" Ariella nodded, motioning for her sister to go. Eva started to leave before turning round and throwing her arms around Ariella.

"Oh my God, I'm so excited, I'm finally going to meet my dad! And I'm going to England! And I'm going to meet Grandpa Burt and Grandma Carole and the band! And this is an absolutely perfect opportunity to enhance my acting skills through method acting – not to mention my British accent!"

"Me too! I can't believe I'm going to meet my mom as well! On Broadway! How do you live with so much excitement all the time?"

"Last call for Ariella Hudson. You're going to miss your flight," the voice of the camp director interrupted.

"Promise me you'll call as soon as you get there," Ariella said, tears shining in her eyes as she pulled back away from Eva.

"I promise. I'm going to miss you, Ari."

"Good luck, Ariella Jasmine Hudson!"Ariella replied.

"Break a leg, Miss Eva Rose Berry," Eva replied in turn, giving her twin sister a final hug before pulling Ariella's suitcase out of the gate and loading it into the taxi. The engine started up and she waved out of the window, all the way down the drive until she couldn't see the gates any more.

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><p><strong>Next time... they get to meet their parents. And that's when everything really kicks off! :D<strong>

**Thank you very much for reading - I hope you enjoyed it. I'd love to hear what you thought so just click that little blue button down there and type.**

**Reviews = Love**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everyone! Once again, thank you so much to everybody who read/reviewed/alerted/favourited. I seriously couldn't do this without your support - reviews make me so happy! And you've given me over 100 of them! I never imagined this story would get so many, so thank you to ecah and every one of you!**

**Sorry (again) for such a long wait - I've finished school for the summer now, so hopefully my updates should be more frequent now.**

**Thanks for your patience and for everyone who PMd me or messaged me on Tumblr to encourage me to continue writing!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or The Parent Trap. Same old, same old...**

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><p>By the time the plane began to descend towards Heathrow Airport, it was nearing 2am. Outside the window, the lights of the cars from the highway –no, <em>motorway<em> – were getting closer and closer.

Eva fidgeted restlessly in her seat, crossing and uncrossing her legs, much to the annoyance of the person next to her.

"Sorry, I'm just… excited to see my dad," she said to her neighbour, by way of explanation. A thrill ran though her as she spoke the word aloud. Her _dad. _Her actual _father _was waiting for her in the airport.

The plane bumped down on the runway and Eva felt her smile grow even wider. Her excitement mounted and she impatiently gathered up her hand luggage so she could get off the plane as quickly as possible, trying to stop herself from bursting into song. Somehow, after an 8 hour flight, she doubted her fellow passengers would feel like listening to her sing, even if she was a stunning young ingénue in the making.

She settled for humming under her breath instead, jumping out of her seat and practically skipping through the crowd into the arrivals hall of the terminal.

Moving over to the luggage carousel to find her case, she became aware of the butterflies flitting around in her stomach, tangling her insides into knots of fear. She was in a completely new country, she knew absolutely nobody there and she wasn't even being herself.

For the first time since leaving camp, Eva began to worry about meeting her father. What if she wasn't a good enough actress to convince him she was Ariella?

"Stop it. You're Eva Rose Berry, daughter of Tony award-winning Rachel Berry. You're a star. You have been professionally trained by the best in NYC since the age of 9 months old and this is the chance you've always waited for."

She ran through her usual pep talk in her head, reaching her hand into her pocket to touch the strip of gold star stickers. Strictly, she shouldn't really have bought them with her, but they were an important part of her. The familiarity of the stickers gave her the confidence boost she needed, and she hauled her suitcase off the carousel. The label proudly displayed her new identity: Ariella Jasmine Hudson.

Turning around, she began to scan the crowd, looking for Finn. People swarmed around her and she was grateful that she was already taller than her mom – it was a nightmare trying to look for people when you were shorter than everyone else. Ari said their dad was really tall and they both took after him.

Running over to an empty chair, she climbed up onto the seat of it, craning her neck to see if she could get a better view. It couldn't be that hard to find someone who was over 6 foot, could it?

A pair of hands grabbed her from behind and she shrieked, her hand automatically flying to her front pocket where she kept her rape whistle – according to her mom, she had to be prepared at all times.

"Boo!" a voice murmured in her ear, the hands scooping her off the chair and clapping gently over her mouth. She looked up at her kidnapper and felt tears spring to her eyes as she saw his face.

"Dad?"

The face of Finn Hudson smiled down at her, his cinnamon eyes reflecting hers. They sparkled as he placed her back down on the floor (and, woah, she only came up to his neckline – Ariella hadn't been exaggerating about his height) and wrapped his arms around her, the scruff on his chin tickling her head.

Eva fought back the tears as she felt her dad's strong, protective arms around her.

"Hey, A. I almost didn't recognise you there," he chuckled, "Have you grown again? You're gonna end up taller than me!" he joked, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"And you've had your ears pierced, too. I thought you weren't into that?"

It took a few seconds for Eva to respond. Shaking herself out of her slight daze, she quickly managed to recover her composure.

"Oh, um, yeah, I had it done at camp. My roommate, um, had hers done and they looked really pretty so I thought I'd give it a go," she lied. Her voice sounded strange without its usual accent – she'd practised her British accent on the way over and sincerely hoped it sounded believable. Not only would it completely ruin the plan if she got busted immediately, but it would also be a serious issue for her career – having a versatile accent would be a vital asset to her future performances.

Fortunately, her fears were assuaged as Finn didn't seem to notice anything. She was overcome with a desire to be as close to him as possible and wrapped her arms around him again tightly.

"Daddy, I missed you _so _much. I'm so happy to see you," she murmured, burying her face into his shirt.

He hugged her back tightly. "Hey, hey… I've missed you too, A. Seems like forever since I last saw you."

"You have no idea, Dad," Eva smiled, her entire face lighting up.

"Come on then. What do you say we go get something to eat and you can tell me all about camp on the way home?" Finn suggested, taking his daughter's hand.

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"Hi, my name is Eva Rose Berry," Ariella murmured under her breath, for about the twentieth time, in an attempt to perfect her accent. Her suitcase bumped along the ground behind her as she tried to drag it across to the escalator.

The crowd surged forwards, pushing her through the gate and surrounding her with noise and colour. Everywhere around her, people were being hugged and kissed – smiling and laughing and crying as they were reunited.

A placard caught her attention: the words 'Eva Berry' standing out in bold writing. Ariella dragged her suitcase over to the unfamiliar man standing holding it. Was she supposed to know this person?

"Miss Eva Berry? I'm your taxi driver for this evening. If you'd like to follow me…" he gestured, taking her suitcase and leading her towards the exit. A wave of relief passed over her. She obviously wasn't supposed to know him, after all.

Before she knew it, the driver was opening the taxi door and ushering her inside. A thrill of excitement ran through her as she realised she was travelling in a proper, yellow New York City taxi.

Time seemed to speed up, impossibly quickly, and she suddenly found herself standing outside the apartment block, clutching her suitcase.

Her heart rate increased suddenly, thudding in her ears as she approached the arrivals hall and she tried to calm herself down. She couldn't be a dithering wreck when she met her mom; she was supposed to have lived with her for her entire life.

Hauling her case up the steps, Ariella raised her hand to ring the buzzer for the apartment when she was suddenly met with a tiny woman, charging into her arms, chocolate-coloured hair flying into her face.

"Evie, baby!"

Ariella's shock began to subside and she realised she'd just been hug-tackled by Rachel Berry. Her arms, which had just been hanging by her sides, moved to wrap around her mom in a crushing hug, her eyes filling with tears.

"Mom…oh, mom. I missed you," she whispered.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't pick you up at the airport, baby – I was in an emergency costume fitting, which nobody had even bothered to tell me about. Fortunately, they were able to cater to my demands adequately so I wasn't delayed too much. Oh, Evie, I missed you."

An amused smile threatened to break out on Ariella's face at Rachel's speech; it was glaringly obvious whose personality Eva had inherited.

"Oh, and look at your hair!" Rachel gasped, fingering Ariella's bangs.

"Don't you like it?" she asked uncertainly.

Rachel studied her for a moment.

"It's beautiful, darling. You know, I used have almost that exact same hairstyle when I was in high school. I just can't get over how grown up you're getting."

Ariella let out a funny noise halfway between a sob and laugh, reaching out to hug her mom again.

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Evie, my little shining star. Why don't we go inside and you can tell me all about camp?"

Ariella smiled, letting Rachel take hold of her suitcase handle to get it up to the apartment.

"Awww, thanks, Mom. You're so chivalrous," she joked.

Rachel froze, eyes suddenly clouding over and Ariella heard the sound of her breath catching.

"Mom?"

The moment passed and she shook her head, like she was trying to focus again, and smiled brightly.

"It's fine. I just got a little light-headed is all," Rachel brushed it off, trying her best to sound completely nonchalant. She hated how just one word could trigger such an intense emotional reaction, even after a decade.

Ariella followed Rachel up the flight of stairs to the apartment and gasped as the door opened. Behind it was a ginormous gold and pink banner, covered in stars, which read 'Welcome back Eva'.

"Thank you, mom," she whispered, eyes pooling with tears again.

"You're welcome. Do you want to go and put your bags in your room and then we can prepare dinner together?" Rachel suggested.

A momentary panic seized Ariella again, as she tried to remember the plan of the apartment that Eva had shown her. Thankfully, when she caught sight of the door covered in gold stars, it was pretty obvious where she was supposed to go.

She deposited the case in 'her' room, pausing to look round at the pastel-coloured walls. Everything was so different to her room at home, but at the same time, she felt completely comfortable here.

Wandering back into the kitchen, she found Rachel beginning to get out the ingredients for their meal and began to help her prepare the food.

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They were halfway through the meal when the apartment buzzer sounded. Rachel hesitated for a moment before going out to answer the door.

Ariella could hear the buzz of a male voice conversing with her mom in the hallway – a quietly murmured conversation which was evidently not intended for her to hear.

When Rachel re-entered the room, their guest appeared in the doorway behind her.

Despite the fact that she'd never seen him before in her life, Ariella immediately sensed that she wasn't going to like this guy.

Rachel smiled at her, a little nervously before turning to the man.

"This is my daughter, Eva. She's just come back from theatre camp today."

The man smiled, running a hand through his curly hair and approaching Ariella.

"Hello, Eva. It's a pleasure to meet you. You're the spitting image of your mother and I'm guessing you're similarly talented," his soft voice held no hint of malice, but to Ariella's ears it made him sound like some sort of creepy jerk in those movies her dad liked to watch.

He held out a hand to her and she shook it, unwillingly.

"Jesse St James. I'm an old high-school ex-boyfriend of your Mom's. I hope you don't mind me intruding on your family evening."

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><p><strong>Uh-oh... Jesse's back. I hope you enjoyed this chapter - I promise I'll update as soon as I can!<strong>

**Reviews = Love**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi! Thank you so much, once again for all your lovely reviews! A special thanks also to all you anonymous reviewers who I unfortunately can't reply to - your comments are really appreciated!**

**I'm sorry this chapter is kind of a filler, but I wanted to finish it before I went on holiday and I'm leaving for a week in Germany on Monday. I'll try and update as soon as I get back!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or The Parent Trap**

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><p>It took a few moments for Eva to register where she was, as she opened her eyes to see the unfamiliar bedroom.<p>

She rolled over and checked the alarm clock on the nightstand, and was shocked to see that it was already 10am. Sitting up, she blinked, taking in the room around her and trying to shake her head clear of the jet lag which had obviously set in.

Eva quickly dressed and went in search of her dad. She wandered round the small townhouse in awe, taking in her new home. The only other actual _house_ she'd been in was Grandpa Hiram and Grandad Leroy's and even that was completely different to this.

She felt her Finn's arms wind round her from behind.

"You know… you'd think you'd never seen this house before," he joked, chuckling.

Eva managed a small giggle.

"Well, you know, it seems so long since I was last here. America really is far away, you know."

"Yeah, I know," a deep sadness crept into her father's eyes as he spoke – one that he usually kept securely buried.

"Dad? Are you okay?" Eva asked, worried at his sudden change in demeanour.

He smiled again, though it didn't reach his eyes this time. "Sure, sure. I love you, Ariella. You know that, right?"

She hugged him tighter, feeling her chest constrict at the mixture of love and suppressed pain.

"I love you too, Dad."

He held her there for a moment before pulling back.

"You hungry? I've just made pancakes. I _was _going to make English ones but Grandpa Burt insisted they're not as nice."

Eva was going to ask what made 'English' pancakes different, but a more important question made her forget all about them.

"Grandpa and Grandma are here?" she asked excitedly, running off down the hall to the kitchen/dining room, without waiting for an answer.

As she ran into the room, a couple were sitting at the breakfast table. They both looked up as she entered, her eyes filling with tears again as she met the grandparents she never knew she had.

"Grandpa Burt, Grandma Carole, I'm so happy to meet you!" she exclaimed, "…again." She added hastily, realising her mistake as they looked at her a little strangely.

"How are you both? Was your flight enjoyable? I'm sorry I didn't see you last night but I guessed you probably wouldn't like me to interrupt your peaceful sleep at some ridiculous hour in the morning."

She rushed forward to hug them both, oblivious to Finn standing and watching her from the doorway.

His heart ached as he noticed how much she was becoming like her mother. Every day she'd do something a little more Rachel-like, some little thing that made it impossible to ignore the constant pain inside. He already had to find some way of keeping his composure every time he heard his daughter sing, for fear of a complete break-down. His baby girl was growing up into a beautiful, talented woman already, just like her mother. God help him when she reached 15 or so. He might have to have therapy to be able to look at her without crying.

The phone rang, pulling him out of his thoughts as he went into the kitchen to pick it up.

"Hello? Finn Hudson speaking."

"Oh, um, hello, Mr Hudson. Can I please speak to E-um-Ariella? I'm a friend of hers."

"Uh, sure," Finn answered, "A, there's a friend of yours on the phone,"

Eva skipped over to the phone, trying to appear confident. If one of Ariella's friends was calling, she was completely screwed.

"Hello?"

"Evie?"

She let out a sigh of relief as Ariella's voice sounded down the line.

"Yes, it's me. Hold on a second," she answered, hurriedly escaping out of the kitchen and running upstairs to her room.

"Sorry, I was in the same room as Dad, Grandma and Grandpa. How's it going, Ari?"

"Amazing! Mom's so beautiful and so lovely and so talented! And New York is incredible. Uncle Kurt's coming over tomorrow, I think," she gushed.

"I just met Grandpa Burt and Grandma Carole. They're so wonderful! And Dad is fantastic and he's so tall! I mean, I always thought he would be tall because I'm taller than Mom already, but he's like a great big gentle giant and he said I can go to band practice with him tomorrow, too!" Eva rattled off, thrilled to finally have someone to tell about her new experiences.

"Oh my God, I can't believe we're actually doing this!" Ariella squealed.

"I know right? I already feel like I've known Dad forever and it's barely been a day! Our whole family is so fantastic!"

"Just imagine when they're re-united! Together!"

"Operation Finchel is ON!" Eva cheered happily.

Ariella jumped as she heard a noise outside the room.

"Evie, I've gotta go. I think someone's coming!" she hissed.

"Okay, talk later?" Eva asked hurriedly, anxious on her sister's behalf.

"Sure. See you!" Ariella whispered, pressing the 'End Call' button quickly. She paused, listening through the door for any sound.

Counting to ten, she sneaked out of the room and crept into the hall to put the house phone back in the holder. She hardly dared to breathe as she turned around to go back to bed, but she'd barely reached the sofa before the lights flicked on, making her squint in the sudden brightness.

As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw her mom standing by the doorway, her long hair messed up from sleeping, wearing only a small night-dress and grasping a stiletto in her hand defensively.

"Caught in the act!" Rachel shrieked, brandishing the heel. She lowered it as she registered who was standing there, trying not to giggle at her melodramatic 'attack'.

"Evie? What are you doing? It's 5:20 in the morning!"

Excuses rushed around in Ariella's brain as she tried to come up with some vaguely plausible explanation.

"I was… calling my friend from camp," she said, trying desperately to buy herself some time.

"At this time?" Rachel questioned, her eyes narrowing. She looked exactly like Eva did when she was going to have some sort of diva fit and Ariella suspected an angry Rachel Berry would be quite a scary thing to encounter.

"Yeah, well, she um… she lives in… California," she explained, saying the first place that came into her head.

Rachel's eyes grew narrower still and she tilted her head slightly.

"So you thought you'd like to call her at 2:20 her time?"

Whoops. Wrong time-zone.

"No! I mean, yes! She goes to bed really late. Her family have these crazy ideas about sleeping patterns and stuff," she rambled.

Rachel relaxed slightly, though she still didn't look entirely convinced.

Ariella decided a distraction was in order.

"What's the shoe for?" she asked, nodding at the stiletto which was now hanging off Rachel's hand.

The diversion seemed to work, and Rachel turned slightly pink.

"I thought you might be some sort of thief or murderer or rapist. It's best to be prepared," she defended herself, before sighing resignedly. "Truth is, Evie, I've really missed you these past few weeks. The apartment's just been so empty and so lonely. I used to be so independent; so confident that I could go it alone and then… then I thought I'd never have to. You're the only thing that stops me from feeling all alone since… well, I guess I've just been going a little stir-crazy," she tried to laugh but it came out in a sort of squeaky huff and she pressed her hand to her mouth, trying to stifle the emotion.

Ariella's heart immediately went out to her mom, standing there in her nightdress, her eyes shining with tears she was fighting not to shed.

She went over to Rachel, wrapping her arms around her securely and pulling her over to sit down.

"It's okay, Mom. I'm back now. Don't worry, you're safe," Ariella murmured, holding Rachel. She remembered what Eva had said about giving her water during a thunderstorm. Maybe the same idea applied now?

"I'll be right back," she told her mom, heading into the kitchen to find a glass. She brought it back and handed it to Rachel, who drank from it, a few stray tears escaping her eyes.

Ariella sat next to her mom, holding her hand until she'd finished the drink.

"Well, I guess we'd better try and get some more sleep," Rachel stood up, pulling Ariella off the sofa.

"I know you're kind of grown-up for this but do you want to sleep in my bed tonight?" she suggested, putting the glass down on the kitchen work surface.

Ariella agreed, letting Rachel lead her into her room.

"I love you, mom," she whispered as she snuggled under the covers.

"I love you too, Evie," Came Rachel's reply from somewhere in the dark beside her.

Ariella stayed awake, listening to her mom's breathing growing softer and shallower. Her thoughts turned towards Rachel's words from earlier and she allowed herself to analyse them more closely.

Had her mom been talking about her dad? Was it possible she still loved him after all this time?

Hope fluttered inside Ariella's chest as she pondered. This reunion might be even more epic than she'd imagined.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope this chapter wasn't too boring :P<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello my faithful readers! I'm so incredibly sorry for the delay in updating. You're all wonderful for sticking with this fic and my atrocious updating skills :P**

**Thank you so much to all my lovely reviewers - I appreciate all your comments so much. Thank you also to the lovely anon(s) who requested an update on my Tumblr.**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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><p>The sound of the doorbell rang through the apartment and Ariella heard Rachel's footsteps along the hall, followed by the click of the door opening.<p>

She dropped the book she'd been reading onto her bed and went to investigate, sincerely hoping it wasn't that Jesse guy again. It had been just over a week since she'd come to New York and she'd seen him much more than she would have liked. It seemed like he was always hanging around their house and when she'd accompanied Rachel to the theatre to watch her show's rehearsal her mom had spent practically the whole time talking to him.

Relief and excitement washed over her as she recognised the voice in the hallway.

"Uncle Kurt!" she yelled, hurting out of the room and pushing past her mother to hug him.

"Eva!" he answered in kind, receiving her whilst trying to keep his designer bag from being crushed.

She pulled back grinning widely at him and he gasped, his hands reaching out to her bangs.

"You've got a new hairstyle? It really suits you, you know. It's very similar to your mother's when she was in high school. But you're far more fashionable than she ever was at that age," he teased, looking over at Rachel, who was pretending to look offended.

"I'll have you know my sexy, schoolgirl librarian chic style was comfortable, presentable and practical," she countered.

"Presentable?" Kurt scoffed, shuddering slightly, "I'm glad you finally saw the light or I might still be having to carry out monthly wardrobe clear outs for you."

Ariella giggled at their light banter and followed Kurt into the living room.

"I'll make us all drinks," Rachel offered, heading into the kitchen as Kurt and Ariella settled down on the couch next to each other.

"So, Ari, how's my favourite princess?" he asked, leaning back and looking over at her.

A horrible sensation spread through Ariella, her heart suddenly speeding up as she registered what Kurt had just called her.

"What did you just call me?" she asked, trying to look calm.

Luckily, Kurt seemed confused, fumbling uncharacteristically as he answered.

"Oh, uh, nothing. You just, um, reminded me of somebody I know who has a similar hairstyle."

The panic died down and Ariella's heart rate returned to normal as she realised. She'd obviously reminded Kurt of herself because he was used to seeing Eva with a different hairstyle and, after all, they did look almost exactly identical. Still, she'd have to be careful not to let her act slip, if she was already confusing Uncle Kurt.

"Oh, right. I'm fine thank you, Uncle Kurt," she answered, sounding as unconcerned as possible.

"And how was camp? Did you get along with your roommate in the end? Your mom told me she was 'all posh and annoying' according to you when you phoned her."

Indignation rose up inside Ariella at Eva's comments. She knew they'd quickly moved past that stage but it still wasn't much fun hearing what her sister had originally thought of her.

"Well, she _was_ incredibly annoying, extremely bossy and very controlling but we learned to accept each other eventually," she replied, unable to resist saying what she had thought of Eva at first.

"Are you sure you're not describing yourself?" Kurt smirked, patting her arm to let her know it was a joke.

"I'm proud to take after my mom," she joined in with a slight laugh, knowing how similar Eva and Rachel were.

"Are you talking about me?" Rachel asked, coming in and setting down the drinks before taking a seat on the couch.

A knock at the front door interrupted them and Rachel leaped up from the couch enthusiastically, a wide smile forming on her face as she skipped into the hall, smoothing her hair.

Ariella's heart sank a little. She knew who their visitor was going to be.

Sure enough, Jesse St James stepped into the room, smiling that smile which apparently was award-winning but in reality she thought made him look like a complete douchebag, which she'd already decided he was.

"Why are you here, Jesse?" she said, eyeing him with dislike.

"Do I need an excuse to pop in and visit my favourite two girls?" he answered, shrugging slightly.

Rachel walked over to the coffee table, taking the bunch of flowers she was holding and arranging them neatly in the vase.

He'd brought her flowers?

Sensing the awkwardness – something which Rachel appeared oblivious to as she smiled up at Jesse – Kurt decided it might be a good time to interrupt.

"So, I was thinking of taking Eva out on a little shopping trip with me for a bit to celebrate her return home from summer camp. Why don't we go now?" he suggested, turning to her and then looking at Rachel.

Eager to be out of the company of Jesse St Jerkface, Ariella agreed quickly and followed Uncle Kurt out of the room, leaving Rachel and Jesse alone together.

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Three hours later, Ariella and Kurt re-entered the apartment, shopping bags hanging off both of their arms.

Ariella sighed as she dumped the heavy bags in her bedroom, her tired arms welcoming the relief of finally being able to put them down.

She headed into the lounge, hoping to show her mom her new purchases, but was met with the most unwelcome sight of Rachel, sitting on Jesse's lap and kissing him passionately.

Her stunned gasp must have alerted Rachel to her presence and, if it didn't, Kurt's high-pitched "What in the name of Gaga is this?" certainly caught her mother's attention.

Rachel blushed a little, moving off Jesse to stand in front of her best friend and her daughter.

"Kurt, Eva, Jesse and I have some, um, news," she looked at Jesse nervously and he stood up to join her.

"Rachel and I are engaged."

Ariella just stared for a moment, her mouth gaping as she realised what this meant for her and Eva and their plan.

"I'm so happy for you," she gabbled quickly. Then she ran out of the room, the tears which had filled her eyes beginning to cascade down her face. Pausing to grab her bag with her phone in, she rushed out of the front door, slamming it behind her and ran down the road until she knew she was out of sight of the house.

Pulling out her phone, she tried to stop the tears dripping down from her eyes as she dialled the number and listened to the dialling tone, praying for an answer.

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"I just can't believe how much you've grown up since we last saw you, Ari!" Carole exclaimed for about the fiftieth time that week.

"Yeah… you might have said that before," Eva giggled, moving closer to her grandma as they walked side-by-side through the park.

"Yeah, Carole, give the girl break," Burt teased, joining in.

"What? Am I not allowed to be amazed at how sophisticated my baby grandchild is getting? That's my job as a grandparent!" Carole answered, chuckling.

"Well you must be doing overtime then!" Eva joked, nudging her grandma playfully and holding her hand up for a high-five from Grandpa Burt. She couldn't believe how awesome her grandparents were and she'd only known them a week. Of course, she still loved Grandpa Hiram and Grandad Leroy just as much, but it was so nice to spend time with her dad's family considering she hadn't known they existed until recently.

They passed by the pond and Carole noticed a pizza van nearby.

"Oooh, that smells good. Do you want to grab some dinner before we head back to meet Finn? We've probably got half an hour or so before he finishes work," she suggested, leading them over to the picnic area.

"Sure, I'm starving," Burt agreed, "You, Ariella?"

"Yeah, sure, I'd love some thanks."

They headed over to the van, looking up at the menus.

"They look pretty big – I'm not sure if I could manage one all to myself," Carole said, looking over at a couple who were taking two enormous pizzas away from the van.

"Do you want to share one, Grandma?" Eva suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. What topping do you want? Pepperoni?"

"Oh, um, I can't – I'm vegetarian. From a young age, I've always supported animal rights campaigns and my mo–" Eva broke off in horror, realising what she'd said.

Carole looked a little confused but thankfully, Burt interrupted her before she could ask any questions.

"Well, how about we get a veggie feast and a meat feast and we can share them around?" he suggested, giving his wife a significant look when Ariella was looking the other way.

They went with his idea and ordered the pizzas, sitting down around one of the picnic tables. Ariella was just about to pick up her first slice when she felt her phone ring in her pocket. Sliding it out under the table, she glanced at the caller ID.

"You know, I'm just going to the bathroom. I'll be back in a minute," she excused herself quickly, rushing off out of sight.

She paused behind a tree, breathing hard as she answered the call.

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"Hello?"

"Evie! Everything's gone wrong!" Ariella wailed, as soon as her sister picked up.

"Hey…hey, Ari, calm down. _I'm_ supposed to be the drama queen, remember?" Eva tried to calm her gently, "What happened? I'm sure it can't be that bad, can it?"

"Are you kidding? Mom's engaged!" Ariella exclaimed, managing to stop crying.

"What? To who?" Eva's voice replied, sounding suddenly panicky.

"Some old high school boyfriend called Jesse St James. He turned up the night I got here and they've been all over each other since!"

"Okay, okay," Eva tried to sound calm and collected.

"What do you think we should do?" Ariella asked her.

"Well… I guess we just have to go on with Stage Two quicker than we thought. We need to get mom and dad to meet up. And soon!"

Ariella nodded to herself, "Yeah, okay. Leave it to me. I'll try and put it off as much as I can and I'll call you when I know more. I'd better go because I bet someone's looking for –" she broke off as she turned round to see Uncle Kurt right next to her, having just come round the corner.

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Eva rushed back to Grandpa Burt and Grandma Carole, hoping they wouldn't notice her slightly worried appearance.

As she approached them, Carole started talking.

"So, who was that?"

"What?"

"On the phone," Carole prompted.

"I-I don't know what you mean. I was in the bathroom, uh, I mean, toilet," Eva lied, closing her eyes as she realised how quickly her façade was falling apart.

"Seriously? You're as bad at lying as your father and you've been acting different since we came. I know we haven't seen you for a while but still… it's almost as if you were…" Carole trailed off.

"Almost as if I were who, Grandma?" she asked, plucking up the courage to just say it, "Almost as if I were… Eva?"

Carole stared at her.

"You know about Eva? How?"

Eva smiled.

"Grandma, I am Eva. Eva Rose Berry," she held her hand out automatically and found herself being pulled into a crushing hug.

"Oh, my baby girl. Oh, Eva. I haven't seen you since you were a month old," Carole whispered, sobbing into her granddaughter's shirt.

Burt awkwardly joined in the hug, patting them both on the back.

"It's so good to see you again, Eva," he said, hugging them both close.

After a good few minutes, Carole finally pulled back, dabbing at her eyes, only to take in the sight of her granddaughter and hug her again.

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Ending the call, Ariella looked at Kurt nervously, wondering how much he'd heard.

"You're not – you're – you're… Ariella?" he almost whispered, eyes shining.

"Yeah, it's me, Uncle Kurt."

Suddenly, and rather unexpectedly, he flung himself around her in a tight hug, looking oddly smug.

"My plan worked!"

"What?" Ariella asked, taken aback.

"I, Kurt Hummel, am a genius," he boasted, bowing slightly and jumping up and down, "I _knew _you two would be bound to meet if I gave Rachel and Finn the details for the same camp. Oh, I'm so happy!" he kissed Ariella on the head and continued to dance around.

"Wait, you _planned _this?" Ariella asked in disbelief.

"Yes!"

Ariella turned on her most business like attitude: "Okay then, Uncle Kurt, we need your help. We _have _to get our parents back together before mom marries Jesse!"

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><p><strong>So the secret's out! And... it'll be the Finchel you've all been waiting for next chapter! :D<strong>

**Reviews would be very appreciated (it's my birthday on Friday so you could give them to me as a present!). I'll try and update much sooner next time!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello, faithful readers! Once more, thank you for your lovely reviews, and also for your kind birthday wishes; I had a fantastic day! I was overwhemed by the huge amount of views, reviews and favourites, so thank you form the bottom of my heart to every single one of you. Unfortunately, the next update may be a little slow because I'm away for a week from tomorrow, but I hope I can get it up as soon as possible.**

**So... here it is, the chapter you've been waiting for! I hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Glee, don't own The Parent Trap**

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><p>Eva paced backwards and forwards nervously outside Finn's bedroom, waiting for him to wake up. She didn't know why, but she was absolutely terrified of revealing her true identity to him and had persuaded her grandparents to at least leave it until the next day.<p>

Despite her endeavour to act normally, Eva's plan had been _slightly_ undermined by the fact that Carole was still unable to look at her for more than about a minute before becoming emotional again, and she was pretty sure Finn was suspicious that something was up, considering the number of times Carole had hugged her the previous evening.

A movement behind her made her jump and she spun round, clutching her chest, to see Grandpa Burt standing in his pyjamas, an expression of concern on her face.

"Eva? Are you okay?"

She nodded.

"Just a little nervous, you know?"

Burt nodded, stepping closer to her.

"You know what I find the best way is to get over your fears? Just go get it over with," he advised, patting her shoulder.

Eva nodded again and put her hand on the door to open it, when the thought that had been plaguing her all night slipped out of her mouth:

"What if he doesn't like me?"

"What?"

"Dad," she clarified, "What if Dad doesn't like me? What if he only liked me because he thought I was Ariella? And he's going to be so angry that I'm here instead of her and so worried about her and…" she trailed off as Grandpa Burt stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her fully, his firm embrace comforting her.

"Eva Berry. You listen to me. Your dad? He loves you. He loves you no matter what. You know why? Because you're his daughter. You're his baby girl and he loves you with his whole heart and it doesn't matter how much he loves your sister, he will always love you just the same because you are his precious, precious little star. You matter to him every bit as much as your sister, so go in there and tell him, so he can love you for who you really are."

Eva hugged Grandpa Burt even tighter, kissed him on the cheek in thanks and then pulled back, her smile firmly back in place.

"Thank you, Grandpa. I love you. And I'm going to go in there and tell Dad who I am," she said, turning to tiptoe into the room.

Her dad was lying on one side of the bed, the covers half over him, snoring lightly. Eva wondered if the way his arms were reached out was because he was dreaming of holding someone close to him. She wondered if it could be her mom.

Creeping over to the bed, she slipped under the covers beside him, taking his large hand with her much smaller one.

"Dad… Dad, wake up," she whispered, kissing him gently on the cheek.

His eyes opened blearily for a second.

"Rachel?"

Eva's heart almost stopped as the single word left his lips. Did he think she was…?

"No, Dad, it's me," she whispered.

"Oh, sorry. Morning A," he replied sleepily. Even through his gentle smile, she could still see a tiny hint of the momentary sadness in his eyes when he realised Eva wasn't the person he'd been dreaming of.

"Actually, Dad," she paused, her heart pounding, "It's not Ariella."

Finn opened his eyes properly, looking up at her.

"What do you mean?"

"She's not here,"

Finn's eyes lit up with humour.

"Oh… okay," he grinned, "So where is she then?"

"She's…she's… she's in New York City with her mom Rachel Berry," the words came out in a rush and Finn's breath caught audibly as she spoke. When he didn't speak, Eva carried on before she lost her nerve.

"I'm Eva Rose Berry. It's so wonderful to meet you…Dad," she almost whispered, her eyes beginning to prick with tears as she saw them appear in his.

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"_Mom, I've told you, I'm __**not **__going back to New York. You promised me you'd do this. You promised me I wouldn't have to face going back there. I can't walk into the apartment and just – just take one of my babies. Not when I have to see the other one there, right next to her. I just – I __**can't**__," Finn's voice rose as he spoke, despair evident in his tone._

_How had everything collapsed so quickly? A month ago he was living with Rachel in their apartment, he was married and he had two beautiful daughters. Now he was living alone, planning on moving to England for his band and he had to choose between his precious babies._

_How could anyone ever make such an impossible decision?_

_That's why he couldn't go back. He couldn't face Rachel; couldn't face her standing there watching him as he took one of their children away from their mother. He'd left her shouting after him in the pouring rain and he couldn't go back._

_Carole's voice had that horrible, heavy, disappointed tone to it when she finally answered. _

"_Finn, honey, Are you sure you really want to do this? Why can't you go back and fix it? After everything you two had together… do you really have to make this decision?"_

_Finn couldn't help the frustration leaking into his voice._

"_Mom, we've been over this. Rachel and I are __**over**__. We've tried and we've broken up time and time again and we just don't __**work **__anymore. That's the way it is and this is what I'm doing."_

_Again, there was a long pause before Carole's reluctant voice sounded down the phone again._

"_Okay, Finn. If this is really what you want then, as your mom, it's my job to help you in any way I can. So I'll go to New York for you. But I'm not making any excuses for you. And you'd better expect your brother to give you one hell of an earful when he finds out."_

_And that was it. Two days later, Carole returned to Lima with Ariella Hudson. A few weeks after that, Finn moved to England, taking his daughter with him, and trying desperately not to think of his baby Eva every time he laid eyes on Ariella's perfect face._

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Finn blinked, coming back to the present, and the movement caused the tears in his eyes to overspill, tracking their way down his face as he took in his baby Eva eleven years on. Instinctively, he leaned forward to wrap his arms around her, almost squashing her in his tight hug.

Eva clung to him just as tightly, her skinny arms clasped firmly around his back. She could feel his tears dripping onto her head and her own flowed out onto his chest.

"Daddy. My Daddy," she whispered, over and over again, in response to his equally joyous sobs of "Evie, my baby, Evie, I love you."

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"High five!" Ariella requested as Uncle Kurt practically squealed in excitement.

"You know, if I may say so myself, I do think I have surpassed myself this time," he crowed with excitement, brandishing the tickets in her face, "Oh, I can't wait to give these to Rachel and Jesse!"

Just at that moment, Ariella heard the key turn in the front door of the apartment and she rushed to open it, scrambling over Uncle Kurt.

"Mom!" she wrapped her arms around Rachel.

"Hey honey. What did I do to deserve this sort of reception?" Rachel joked, setting her handbag on the hall table and turning to give Ariella a proper hug.

"Uncle Kurt and I have a surprise for you and Jesse!" she explained, pulling her mother into the lounge where Kurt was sitting, trying not to bounce around with excitement.

The second he saw Rachel, he almost threw the envelope in her face with enthusiasm.

"Just a little something for you and Jesse to enjoy," he announced, winking at Ariella when Rachel wasn't looking.

Rachel opened the envelope eagerly and looked up in confusion.

"But these are tickets for… a weekend hotel break?" she asked.

"Yes! They're a surprise for you to celebrate your engagement," Ariella told her, smiling to cover up her stomach churning as she said the word.

"What changed? You haven't exactly been…fond of Jesse," Rachel said, perplexed at her daughter's sudden change in attitude.

"Well, I decided, if he makes you happy and he's going to be my dad, we should get to know each other a little better, right? That's why Uncle Kurt and I are coming too," Ariella told her, hating the way she had to even consider her father being replaced by St Jerkface.

However, her words had the desired effect as Rachel's smile suddenly became frozen.

"Your…dad?" she repeated.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I know I had a dad once, but Uncle Kurt's the only male who has ever been present in my life as far as I can remember and it's more like having two moms, to be honest. So, yeah, if you're marrying him, that makes him my dad, right?" Ariella asked innocently, enjoying the sudden discomfort on Rachel's face. Uncle Kurt had been right when he said he knew exactly what to say to Rachel.

Her mom seemed to pull herself up, smiling widely again, like she was convincing herself to accept Ariella's words.

"Sure, I suppose. Well, thank you so much, you two! When do we go?"

"Tomorrow!" Kurt exclaimed, pointing at the date stamp on the tickets, "Don't worry, I've already checked with the theatre; they said you're word and note perfect, you can take two days off and enjoy your break," he recited, before Rachel could panic about the time off work.

Kurt and Ariella's enthusiasm seemed to invigorate Rachel and she smiled again, her proper mega-watt grin, and launched herself forward for a group hug.

"Thank you! I'd better go and call Jesse to let him know!" she rushed out of the room and Ariella let her face crack into an even wider smile as she and Uncle Kurt silently danced round the room in jubilation at their success.

"I'd better go and call Eva to let her know the plan!" she whispered excitedly, hurrying into her bedroom to tell her sister the good news.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

The hot weather was making Finn pretty sticky in the stifling car and it was a relief to finally pull up outside the hotel and get out into the equally warm, but less stuffy, air.

Eva followed him out, clutching his hand in excitement. If everything went to plan, her mom, Jesse, Ari and Uncle Kurt weren't due to arrive for a few hours, which would give her enough time to make sure her dad was aware of certain facts she had… negated to mention.

The hotel lobby was almost deserted when they entered, so it only took a few minutes for them to check in and find their room. Almost as soon as the door had closed, Eva received a text from Ariella. Checking her phone, she glanced over at her dad.

"Dad? Um, I might have accidentally forgotten to tell you… Mom-doesn't-actually-know-we're-here," she blurted out.

Finn's slight smile froze and he dropped the jeans he had been unpacking back onto the bed, turning to face Eva.

"She doesn't?"

"No."

"So you mean you brought me all the way across to a completely different continent, leaving my parents in charge of my house and my job and the woman I have come here to meet so I can see my daughter again doesn't know I'm here?" his voice was dangerously quiet, and Eva knew she'd better talk herself out of this one quickly.

"Not yet. But, I'm sure Ariella will tell her as soon as possible, so it's almost one hundred percent guaranteed that she _will _know by the time she actually arrives."

Fortunately, Finn seemed to relax at this news, at least enough to continue throwing clothes out of his case and into the drawer, before sighing and looking at his daughter.

"Come on, Evie, they're not due for a few hours yet, right? Why don't we go and get a drink by the pool or something?"

xxxxxxxxxxxx

It was dark by the time they reached the hotel and Rachel was absolutely exhausted. Leaning on Jesse's shoulder, she mumbled something about going straight to bed, but he wasn't paying attention, having just spotted a notice in the lobby.

"Oh, look, Rachel, babe, they've got a karaoke evening. We'll have to go and wow them all with our superior talent, right?"

"Actually, Jesse, I'm really quite exhausted. How about tomorrow?" she suggested.

Ariella looked over at Uncle Kurt, who smiled and winked at her.

"You know, Rachel, that karaoke does look a lot of fun. And it's been so long since we did a proper duet on stage together. Let's just go for an hour or so and then we can go to bed, okay?"

Ariella grinned as Rachel reluctantly allowed Kurt and Jesse to lead her into the bar, where a stage was set up in the dimly-lit room, compete with two microphones and a DJ standing slightly off to the side. She grimaced as Jesse planted a kiss on her mom's cheek and they linked hands.

Sliding her phone out of her pocket, she sent a quick text to Eva and whispered Eva's reply to Uncle Kurt, her eyes shining brightly.

Subtly, she shifted in her seat, craning her neck until she spotted two familiar faces over by the bar and her heart leapt into her mouth.

When she was sure her mom was distracted by the current middle-aged couple singing, she slipped off her seat and sneaked over to the DJ, whispering the idea to him and scurrying back to her seat before anyone else noticed she had been gone.

The final notes of the couple's mediocre duet faded and they stepped off the stage, the DJ taking their place as his booming voice rang out from the speakers, over the introduction of the next song.

"I've had a special request for our next song. Would there be a Rachel Berry in here?"

Automatically, Rachel stood up, and before she could sit down again, people were ushering her towards the stage, peering over each other to see if it really was _the _Rachel Berry.

The sudden muttering in the room was so loud that Rachel missed the DJ's next announcement, and before she knew it, she was standing in the spotlight, at the bottom of the steps up to the stage.

As the babble died down, her heart suddenly accelerated, pounding at a mile a minute, when she finally recognised the opening notes of the song.

And then it stopped completely. Because, walking towards her, with a microphone in his hand was Finn Hudson.

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><p><strong>Finally, Finchel! Yeah, I'm sorry I had to stop it there but at least they've met now, right? I promise it will be Finchel-filled from now on, but I wanted to get this chapter up and it was already pretty long. Thanks for reading!<strong>

**Reviews = Love**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello again! Wow, over 200 reviews! Thank you so much to all of you - especially to thsoe who I haven't been able to reply to via PM.**

**I'm sorry for the delay in updating (again!) - I'm not going to bore you with all the reasons why this time!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee**

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><p>And then he started to sing and it was like the world was falling away beneath her feet.<p>

"_Highway run _

_Into the midnight sun_

_Wheels go round and round_

_You're on my mind_,"

That voice; those words... everything was transporting her back to that very first Regionals competition where she'd fallen in love all over again with the man standing right in front of her.

She remembered the warmth that had spread through her whole body as he'd confessed his love for her, and the way they had sung in perfect harmony, so connected, so in tune with each other.

"_Restless hearts_

_Sleep alone tonight_

_Sending all my love_

_Along the wire,"_

Without her even thinking about it, Rachel's mouth opened and she joined in with her part, the words from long ago reminding her of all the emotions she'd felt during that performance.

"_They say that the road ain't no place to start a family,_

_Right down the line it's been you and me,"_

The shock of hearing their voices harmonising flawlessly together for the first time in years made her eyes flicker up to his face momentarily.

"_And loving a music man ain't always what it's supposed to be,"_

Her voice shook slightly as his eyes flickered up and immediately caught hers, leaving her staring into them, neither of them able to tear their gaze away from the other.

"_Oh boy, you stand by me,_

_I'm forever yours_

_Faithfully,"_

As they finished the verse, Rachel forced herself to breathe in deeply, her eyes still locked on Finn's and her heart pounding.

Over at the table in the far corner, Ariella and Eva were hugging each other tightly, each of the grasping the other's hand. Eva sneaked a glance over at Uncle Kurt and saw his hands clasped over his mouth, eyes shining.

She nudged Ariella and nodded at him, noticing her sister's eyes were also a little misty.

All three of them turned their attention back to the couple on the stage, who were moving slowly towards each other, their eyes still locked together as they sang the second verse.

When they began singing the chorus, standing mere inches apart and still wrapped in their own bubble, Ariella leaned over.

"Uncle Kurt… this song is perfect," she whispered, enraptured as her parents circled each other, their voices crescendo-ing into the chorus.

Uncle Kurt dabbed at his eyes, leaning over to whisper to the girls:

"Just wait until I tell you about the first time they sang this; I couldn't have picked another song."

"_I'm forever yours_

_Faithfully,"_

The final notes of the song died out and the sharp scraping of a chair being shoved back cut through the hush that had fallen over the audience as Finn and Rachel sang. Ariella looked over to see where the noise was from, just in time to see the back of Jesse's head disappearing round the corner.

She turned to Eva, smiling a little smugly, and noticed that her sister was still completely enraptured by their parents on the stage who were now standing mere inches apart, their eyes still focused on nothing and nobody but the other.

A slow clap started up in the audience, led by Kurt who was still dabbing his eyes in between claps. Everyone else in the bar soon joined in until the rapturous applause finally snapped Finn and Rachel out of their trance.

The second the spell broke, Rachel turned around and rushed offstage, knocking over the microphone stand and crashing into several chairs as she rushed out, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. Kurt turned to the girls, muttering "Stay here and look after Finn," before hurrying out of the room after his best friend.

Eva shot a worried glance at Ariella and then at Finn who was still standing on the stage, looking completely lost. She grabbed her sister's arm and they both pushed their way past the tables full of people until they reached the stage.

"Dad? Daddy, come on," Eva whispered as the twins led him off the stage and out of the bar, heading for their room.

Ushering him onto the bed, the two girls sat beside him, waiting for his reaction to kick in. Ariella waited a few seconds before throwing her arms round him tightly.

"I've missed you, Daddy," she murmured.

"Ariella?" Finn's voice sounded slightly shaky when he answered, but the sound of her voice seemed to bring him back to reality, as he realised both his daughters were sitting beside him; arms wrapped around him and around each other in a close hug.

"It's good to see you too, A," he said quietly, planting a small kiss on each of his girls' heads.

"And…Mom?" Eva breached the question they'd been silently wondering, tilting her head up to gauge Finn's reaction.

"Of – of course. I mean, it's just a shock, you know? To see her again. And – and she looks just like she always used to, except…more…even more…beautiful," he muttered, his voice fading almost to a whisper.

They sat there in silence for a while, Eva and Ariella glancing at each other every so often to see if the other was going to break the silence.

Eventually, Finn sat up, rubbing a hand over his face and gently letting his arms fall from where they'd been wrapped around his daughters.

"I suppose we'd better go to bed. It's late. Especially for you, Evie, after all that travelling."

Ariella stood up.

"Dad? Should I go back to Mom's room? She'll be worried about where I've gone, and I think it makes more sense for me to go than Evie if Mom, um, still doesn't know," she asked, mumbling the last part shamefacedly.

"You didn't tell her you'd swapped?" Finn tried to sound a little angry at this news, but it just came out as tired.

"Okay, I suppose you'd better. Goodnight, A. I love you."

Eva stood up to hug her sister goodnight, whispering really quietly in her ear so their dad wouldn't hear:

"Stage one complete."

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"But, _why_, Kurt? Why is he here? I've been fine without him in my life. I've been just _fine _for eleven years! I've raised my daughter, I've won a Tony, I have a successful career, and a life in New York, and a _fiancé_ who I love and now _he's_ come back and –and I just don't need that," Rachel wailed into Kurt's shoulder.

Kurt shifted back so that he could sit comfortably on the bed and rubbed her shoulder soothingly, letting her cry but not answering her questions. Now probably wasn't the best time to explain the real reason Finn was there.

The sound of the door opening made them both look up and Kurt nodded at the girl who entered, crossing the room to sit next to Rachel and wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"Ariella?" he mouthed over Rachel's head.

"Yes, Eva's still with Dad," she mouthed back, almost smiling a little at the fact that Uncle Kurt really couldn't tell them apart at all.

She stood up again, rushing over to the coffee tray on the dresser to grab a glass and then heading into the bathroom, returning a minute later with a glass of water which she passed to her mother.

"Mom?" Rachel looked up at her daughter and took the glass of water, a small attempt at a smile appearing on her face.

"Thank you, Evie," she took Ariella's hand, rubbing her fingers over the back of it.

The door opened again and Jesse came into the room, looking over at them sitting on the bed.

"I suppose Ari – Eva and I had better…leave," Kurt suggested, standing up. Fortunately, Rachel wasn't alert enough to notice his slip of the tongue and just nodded.

"Will you be okay Mom?" Ariella asked, reluctant to leave Rachel when she was upset.

"She'll be fine. She's got me to look after her – I'm sure she was just a bit shocked," Jesse answered, sitting down where Kurt had just been.

"Don't worry, honey, Jesse's right. I was just a little surprised, that's all. Have a good night's sleep; I love you," she told Ariella, kissing her softly on the head.

Ariella hugged Rachel back and headed through the partition door into the room she was sharing with Uncle Kurt, who also hugged Rachel before following his niece next door.

"Rachel? Do you want to…talk about this?" Jesse asked, stroking her arm comfortingly.

She looked up at him, turning the corners of her lips up in a half-smile.

"If it's alright with you, Jesse, I'd rather just go to bed. I've had a long and tiring day and I don't really feel up to talking about this right now, especially as we have an… awkward history with this whole situation."

Jesse nodded understandingly, warming Rachel's heart. She was so glad they'd both matured since the last time she'd been in this situation.

Changing into her pyjamas and washing quickly, she kissed him softly.

"I love you," she whispered as she slid into the bed beside him and turned off the bedside lamp.

In the darkness of the room, she tried as many tactics as possible to stop herself before she finally relented and let her thoughts drift towards Finn.

When he'd left her; when she'd told him to leave, she'd been sure she would never be the same again. It had taken weeks before she'd stopped hoping for him to call and months before she stopped crying herself to sleep.

The shock of seeing him again after so long had shaken her entirely. She'd finally found love again and was ready to move on and leave the past behind for good with Jesse.

But singing with Finn earlier that night? It brought back all the reasons she'd never wanted to let him go.

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><p><strong>There you go! I hope you enjoyed that. Well done to all of you who called the song, by the way!<strong>

**Thank you for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi everyone! Again, I can't thank you all enough for your lovely reviews, favourites, alerts and readership. I'm sorry I haven't replied to any of your reviews for the last chapter - I'll try and get round to it as soon as possible!**

**This chapter was originally going to be much longer than it is now, but I've decided to split it into this part and the next chapter, because I thought this seemed like a better ending. Hopefully you won't have to wait too long for the next installment, though.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. I don't own The Parent Trap. Same old, same old.**

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><p>It was late morning when Ariella finally woke up, having been exhausted from the events of the day before. Deciding she'd better go and find her sister, she rolled out of bed and quickly dressed, running a brush quickly through her hair and slipping her sandals on. A note on the dresser caught her eye:<p>

_Gone for breakfast with Jesse and Rachel. Come and join us when you're up. Uncle Kurt_

Crumpling up the note, she threw it in the bin on the way out of the room, heading off to go and find her mom.

As she reached the breakfast hall, she saw it was completely empty except for a few waiters and waitresses, cleaning up the left over dishes.

Ariella pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialled Uncle Kurt's number.

"Hello?"

"Uncle Kurt, it's me. Where are you?"

The amused tone in his voice gave away his slight smirk as he answered.

"Oh, so you've finally decided to surface, have you? Well, we're by the pool at the moment," his voice suddenly dropped slightly, so he wouldn't be overheard, "I think Jesse might just be a _little _worried about the sudden reappearance of your dad. He's hovering over Rachel like some kind of annoying insect. I've been dying to swat him away."

Ariella giggled.

"Okay, I'll head out there and find you. See you in a minute."

She rang off, stuffing her phone back in her pocket and aiming for the doors which led out into the pool area.

The bright sunlight made her squint when she walked out into the hot summery air and she accidentally walked straight into someone as her eyes tried to adjust to the light.

Apologising quickly, she almost didn't notice it was her dad she was speaking to.

"Dad?"

"Eva, what are you doing? I thought you were going to get us some drinks. Was the shop closed?"

"Dad, it's me, not Eva. I was just heading out here to find –" Ariella broke off when she noticed Finn wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to her, but was instead gazing over at the other side of the pool. Following his line of sight, she spotted her mom, coming down the steps to the sun loungers and dressed in a tiny black and gold bikini.

Before she could stop him, Finn was walking towards Rachel like he was in some sort of trance, ignoring the disgruntled mutterings of the people he was pushing past. He was so focused on his destination that he didn't notice the small table next to one of the sunbeds, tripping over it and subsequently crashing into a waiter who was clearing the table next to it. Ariella's warning shout was too late, and she watched in a strange mixture of amusement and horror as her dad stumbled back; his clumsiness getting the better of him as he lost his balance completely, falling into the water.

The loud splash alerted Rachel to his presence, and she rushed towards the pool, reaching it just as Ariella did, and then realising exactly who she had just run to help.

Before Rachel could turn away and pretend she hadn't seen him, Finn was climbing out of the pool, his shoes squelching and the rest of him dripping wet.

"Hello, Rachel."

Rachel took a slow, deep breath in. After much restless tossing and turning the night before, she'd decided she was perfectly capable of speaking to Finn as if he were simply an old, very platonic friend.

"Hello, Finn."

When he didn't make any move other than to continue looking at her, she carried on talking, trying to drive away the awkwardness and ignoring the unhelpful fact that his shirt was now dripping wet and clinging to his muscular torso. It struck her as odd that he didn't seem in the least surprised to see her there.

"How – how come you're here, Finn? I mean, I'm incredibly shocked to see you but you…don't seem so, well, utterly stunned to see me. And, well, we haven't seen each other for, what, eleven years and then suddenly you're here and I'm here and –"

Ariella stepped forward, interrupting her mom's rambling. Over Rachel's shoulder, she noticed Uncle Kurt, trying to discreetly film them on his phone.

"Mom… I can explain."

Rachel turned to Ariella, her expression becoming even more confused.

"Eva? How do you – you mean you know who this man is?"

"Well, actually, yes, I do. This is my dad, Finn Hudson. And… actually, I'm not Eva," she admitted, looking more than a little guilty as she explained.

"You're – you're not – but who –?" Rachel stuttered, completely baffled.

"I'm Eva."

Eva stepped forward from behind Rachel, carrying the drinks she'd just bought from the hotel shop.

Rachel looked back and forth between the twins, shaking her head as she tried to take the sight of them in.

"Both of you?" she whispered.

Ariella looked over at her sister who nodded and started to explain.

"You know how we went to theatre camp this summer? Well, we met there and we found out and everything just sort of happened."

Rachel stared at them, her hands flying to cover her mouth.

"Can you believe it, Rach? Our own daughters switched places on us," Finn's voice was gentle and soft and he sounded just like he always used to sound – speaking with that tenderness reserved only for her.

In a split second, tears were cascading down Rachel's face, her hands shaking over her mouth. Her heart was racing at a million beats per second as she was completely overwhelmed by a sea of emotion flooding inside her.

"Mom, don't cry," Ariella whispered, even though both she and Eva were beginning to blink back tears.

"Ariella?" Rachel whispered shakily, her hands moving from her mouth and wrapping around her daughter in the tightest hug she could muster.

"Oh, Ari. Oh, my baby girl. I thought I'd lost you forever," she sobbed into Ariella's shoulder.

She remembered the day Carole came to pick up Ari as if it were yesterday. That feeling that a part of her had gone missing forever as she'd had to put herself back together and raise one of their daughters, never knowing her other little girl. And now here her baby was, nearly twelve years old and so grown up, so beautiful. And she'd been staying with her this entire time.

"Mommy," Ariella murmured back, tears beginning to fall from her own eyes.

It was a long time before either of them pulled back, both of them beginning to laugh and wipe their eyes. Rachel turned to her other daughter who was also smiling, tears slipping down her cheeks.

"Eva? You've been in England all this time?"

Eva just nodded, joining in with their laughter as Rachel engulfed both of her daughters in a warm hug, the tears still pouring down her face.

"You're not angry with us?" Eva asked, pulling back to look at both of her parents.

"How could I be angry? I just can't believe you're both here," Rachel said, her voice cracking again.

"Both our little girls together," Finn murmured in amazement, reaching forward to hug them both before Rachel could grab them again.

Ariella looked up at her dad.

"You know, I'm not so little anymore, Dad," she teased, "I'll soon be a teenager and I won't have a mom to talk about all those girl things with."

Eva couldn't help but giggle at the flash of horror that momentarily crossed Finn's face as he considered this.

"Yeah, and I'm going to be starring in shows and talent contests and sooner or later some guy is _bound _to recognise my talent and want to sweep me off my feet and I won't have a dad who can scare him to death, swopping in and protecting my honour" she continued dramatically.

Behind them, Kurt snorted into his drink and tried to disguise it as a cough when all four of them turned to look at him with identical 'what-are-you-looking-at?' expressions.

"Girls, maybe you should…let your dad and I talk for a while?" Rachel suggested, finally managing to stem her tears enough to speak coherently, although she was still wiping at her eyes every few seconds.

The twins looked at each other with identical grins.

"Sure. Take all the time you want," Eva smirked, taking her sister's hand and turning to go. Before they'd gone more than a few steps, though, Ariella turned round and rushed back to Finn, hugging him tightly.

"Mom's so amazing, Dad. How could you have ever let her go?" she whispered in his ear, before running over to join Eva, leaving Finn's heart skipping a beat as he thought about what she'd said.

He watched the girls until they were out of sight, and then turned back to Rachel, unsure what exactly to expect.

She reached her hand up towards his face and his breath hitched as it drew nearer until he realised she was trying to dab at his forehead, where he felt a sharp pain.

"I think you must have grazed it when you fell in the pool," she muttered.

"Oh," he put his own hand to the skin and felt a small lump beginning to form there "Is it bleeding?"

Rachel shook her head.

"No, you should be fine, I think. Perhaps you'd better sit down in case you've got concussion."

Finn chuckled.

"I'm sure it's not that bad," he answered, "Besides, I think you need the chair more than I do – you looked like you were about to collapse when you saw both the girls."

"Well, I was just a tiny bit surprised, you know?" she teased sitting down on the sun lounger – her eyes still a little watery – as Finn perched on the edge of it. He pretended not to stare at her perfect figure as she laid back, her bikini showing off her toned body and giving him a very good view of her cleavage.

"So, how are you, Rach? What have you been up to?"

Rachel smiled, trying to ignore the butterflies that were swarming around in her stomach.

"I've been great, thanks. I don't know if you heard, but I recently played Maria in a phenomenal revival of West Side Story. There was quite a lot of press coverage in the city, but I'm not sure if the news ever made it nationally."

Finn grinned up at her, smiling that perfect half smile that she discovered _still _made her weak at the knees. He leaned in closer and her eyes roamed over his face.

"You know, you haven't changed at all," he murmured gently.

"Rachel!" A loud shout made them both look round to see Jesse striding towards them.

"I've been looking all over for you. I thought we'd agreed to meet in the bar."

His expression suddenly turned a little darker as he noticed who she was with.

"Oh, hi there, Finn. Long time, no see. Can't say I've missed you dreadfully."

Finn smiled as he stood up, but it didn't reach his eyes. Holding out his hand, he shook Jesse's tightly.

"Jesse St James."

Jesse looked from Finn to Rachel and back again.

"Sorry to break up the party, but I was wondering if my _fiancée _would care to join me in the bar for a drink?"

"Sure, go ahead, don't let me stop you," Finn said, fighting to remain civil instead of punching St Jackass's face in. He'd forgotten how much he hated that smug little smile.

"So, what are you doing here, Hudson? It's a strange coincidence that we're all here at the same time, isn't it?" Jesse asked, raising his eyebrows slightly at Finn.

"Yeah, sure is. It's a small world," Finn replied, staring down Jesse, who gave a short, humourless laugh.

"How small?"

"Hi Jesse!" Eva's voice interrupted him as she appeared at his side.

"What's up?" Ariella asked, appearing to other side of him and causing him to jump and give a slight shout of surprise.

He looked back and forth and then up to Rachel again, his expression demanding an immediate explanation.

"Um, Jesse, did I ever tell you that Eva had a twin sister?" she asked hesitantly.

"No, I guess it must have slipped your mind," he deadpanned, glaring at Finn.

Eva spoke up:

"It's okay, Jesse – nobody told us either. I'm Eva Rose Berry, by the way, it's nice to meet you," she smirked, "Let me introduce you to Miss Ariella Jasmine Hudson, my twin sister and partner in crime. She's been pretending to be me since we both swapped places after summer camp."

Jesse attempted a smile.

"Well, what a lovely family reunion. I'm so glad to have finally met the real you, Eva… I guess we'd better be going, Rachel. I actually came to tell you that I just received a voicemail telling me they need me back in New York for an urgent rehearsal."

"Oh no, what a shame," Finn said under his breath, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Fortunately, Rachel didn't seem to hear him.

"What, immediately?" she asked, reaching out for Jesse's arm.

"Yes, I was planning to fly back tonight if that's okay with you. You know, I hate to leave you here, when this was supposed to be our weekend, but my boss said it was absolutely vital."

Rachel nodded.

"It's okay, Jesse, I understand. These things happen. Evie, you can stay here with Ariella if you want. I'll be in the bar if you need anything – or you can just ask Uncle Kurt."

She nodded awkwardly at Finn as Jesse took hold of her hand and steered her towards the steps leading back inside.

He stared after her, admiring her perfect ass in those tight-fitting bikini bottoms and the way her chocolate-coloured hair cascaded down her back, reflecting the sun off it like she was literally shining, and the way her hips swung to and fro as she climbed the steps, and…

"Dad! Dad!"

His brain finally registered one of his daughters, waving her hand impatiently in front of his face and effectively managing to distract him from his thoughts.

"Do you want this drink or not?" Eva demanded, handing over the glass of lemonade.

He took it, still gazing up the steps even though Rachel and Jesse had now completely disappeared from view.

The husband and wife to be.

That thought made him want to kick one of the nearby chairs. That or run after the curly-haired douchebag and beat him up like he tried to do at prom all those years ago.

Except this time Jesse and Rachel were really getting married and he really wasn't going to get _another _chance at repairing this messed-up thing they'd had going on for years.

Wait, what was he even thinking? He and Rachel had done the marriage thing and they'd done the kids thing and it hadn't worked. They just didn't work. Whatever had happened in high school was completely irrelevant now. All of those moments between them were just a memory, tarnished with the knowledge that it hadn't worked out.

Jesse and Rachel were going back to New York and they were going to get married and, honestly, he thought they would make a pretty good couple.

Still, it didn't mean he wasn't going to make the most of Jesse's absence over the next day…

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><p><strong>When Jesse's away, Finchel comes into play! Okay, forget that, it didn't come out as well as I intended but you get the message! <strong>

**I'd love to know your thoughts on that chapter (hint hint!)**

**I'm pretty sure you're going to really like the next one ;)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

** I'm so incredibly sorry about the delay in updating this (I really need to work on this timing thing!). I've been very busy with exams at school for the past few weeks, but they finish on Friday and I promise this fic will then be top of my priority list. I'm trying to get it finished by Christmas!**

**Thank you all very much for your views and reviews; I really value your support.**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter because it's one of my favourites ;)**

**Disclaimer: Glee isn't mine. Neither is The Parent Trap.**

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><p>A knock on the door disturbed Rachel from the book she was reading and she looked up from her position on the bed to see her best friend entering the room.<p>

Kurt snatched the book out of her hands, despite her protests, and dropped it on the nightstand, speaking as he did so.

"You know, you can't spend the rest of this weekend holed up in here just because Jesse's gone and you want to avoid my brother,"

"I'm not – I was just –"

"Yes you are, Rachel."

She sighed.

"What do you want, Kurt?"

Sitting down next to her, he took her hand, swinging it back and forth as he spoke.

"Well, your daughters may have set up a little surprise for you this evening."

Rachel rolled her eyes, "I suppose by 'your daughters', what you really mean is that you came up with this idea, convinced them it was fantastic and now you're trying to pretend you had nothing to do with it?"

Kurt ignored her question, carrying on with what he was saying.

"You need to look at least vaguely presentable, if not absolutely stunning, by 8:30, so we'd better get started right away. Permission to makeover?"

"I don't know, Kurt. Can't it wait until tomorrow? I don't want to disappoint the girls, but I'm not much in the mood for playing dress-up right now," her arm reached for the book again as she spoke.

"Great! We'll start with your hair!" Kurt beamed, clapping his hands together and bundling the reluctant Rachel into the ensuite bathroom before she had time to protest.

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"You didn't pack a single suit?" Eva moaned from over by the wardrobe.

Finn stuck his head round the bathroom door, his wet hair sticking to his forehead from the shower he'd just taken.

"You know, funnily enough, I wasn't expecting to need one when I flew out here with about two days' notice," he remarked, disappearing behind the door again.

"Dad only has, like, one suit anyway," Ariella explained to her sister, looking up from the bed, where she was sprawled out on top of the covers.

"But this is a disaster! He can't just wear his shorts and polo-shirt!" Eva exclaimed, pacing up and down in front of the wardrobe.

Sitting up and tucking her hair behind her ear, Ariella nodded seriously.

"You're right, Evie, we need to do something. This is the perfect plan; it can't go wrong now. We're just going to have to work with what we've got."

She stood up, hopping off the bed to join her sister in front of the open closet door and peered in at the rack of Finn's clothes.

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Rachel fidgeted with her purse, clasping and unclasping it as she waited, despite the smile she had pasted on her face in her determination to enjoy whatever her daughters might have set in store for them.

Eva looked up at her, putting her hand over her mom's hand to still it, and wrapping her fingers around it.

"Mom, relax. I promise we're not going to torture you!" she whispered.

Rachel smiled down at her daughter, squeezing her hand.

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"How do I look?" Finn asked for the millionth time in the past five minutes, straightening his collar and running a hand through his hair again.

"Dad, you look absolutely great, I promise. Just relax," Ariella assured him, taking his hand and leading him out of the hotel elevator towards the lobby.

Finn let go of her hand, trying to wipe his palms on the casual dress-shirt they'd managed to find buried in the bottom of his suitcase. He licked his lips and attempted a proper smile, determined to put on a good face for his girls.

As soon as they rounded the corner to the lobby and they approached Eva and Rachel, he smiled genuinely.

Rachel was wearing a long, flowing summery dress and Finn's first thought was how utterly beautiful she looked. She was smiling just as widely, but he noticed the way her hand was holding Eva's, rubbing her thumb over it in that way she always did when she was nervous. Somehow, the realisation that they were both in the same situation calmed Finn, making it easier for him to actually speak.

"Do you know what we're actually doing here?" he murmured to Rachel as they followed their daughters who were now heading outside and motioning for their parents to follow.

"I have no idea," she answered, automatically leaning in towards him as they walked, her body remembering habits that were years old.

"So how many times have you tried to get the information out of Eva already?" Finn joked, nudging her lightly.

She rolled her eyes, looking like she was trying not to laugh, and he couldn't help noticing the way they shone in the dark, like they were reflecting the starlight.

"Hey, A? Where did you say we were going again?" Finn teased.

His daughter turned back to him with a very Rachel-like expression on her face.

"Nice try, Dad," she called back to him, linking her arm with Eva's and whispering something to her that made them both laugh.

They walked in semi-awkward silence, both conscious of the lack of distance between them, until Eva stopped them a few minutes later.

"We're here," she announced.

"But isn't this just a different part of the hotel?" Finn asked, confused.

Ariella just held the door open, smiling and motioning for them to enter.

Rachel looked over at him and he shrugged, holding his arm out to indicate that she should go in before him.

The room they entered into appeared to be a theatre auditorium, judging by the rows of chairs which stretched out up to the stage at the front of the room.

"What is this?" Rachel asked, confused.

"The hotel's old entertainment pavilion, "Ariella explained. Smiling serenely, she turned and pointed towards the stage, where the curtains were opening to reveal a single spotlight, shining centre stage where a picnic blanket was lying.

Neither Finn nor Rachel spoke as they stared up at the dimly-lit stage.

"Come on," Eva said gently, holding both of her parents' hands and leading them down the aisle and up the stairs onto the stage.

"I'm going to kill Kurt," Rachel muttered, cursing herself for having ever told her best friend about this particular moment in her and Finn's relationship.

"This is where we leave you," Eva smiled, letting go of her parents' hands and standing next to her sister instead.

"What?"

"But what are we going to do?"

"I mean, you can't just –"

"Girls, I know you think this is a good idea but –"

"I think you'd better –"

Finn and Rachel began protesting over each other, not even noticing the way they'd subconsciously drawn closer to each other as they tried to argue their case together.

"Have a magical evening!" Ariella called, grabbing Eva's hand as the two of them sprinted down the steps and out of the back door of the auditorium, ignoring Finn and Rachel's protests and giggling all the way.

They waited until they were a safe distance from the auditorium doors and then Eva pulled her phone out of her pocket and sent a quick text to Uncle Kurt.

When it had sent, she grabbed Ariella's hand and they both crossed their fingers tightly.

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"Well, looks like we're trapped here," Finn joked lightly, despite the fact that his throat felt incredibly dry.

"Yeah, locked in a theatre by our own daughters," Rachel smiled, shaking her head and fiddling nervously with her purse.

They both stood there awkwardly, trying to think of something safe to talk about.

"Shall we…sit down?" Rachel asked uncertainly, gesturing to the blanket spread out in front of them.

"Okay."

Rachel nodded, smoothing out her dress and lowering herself onto the blanket opposite Finn. This whole situation was incredibly surreal and it was bringing back memories (and feelings) she hadn't thought about in a very long time.

Pushing those thoughts firmly to the back of her mind, and remembering that she was _engaged_, Rachel turned on her best acting skills, priding herself on her ability to act completely unaffected and fill the silence with small-talk.

"So, what's going on with you at the moment, Finn? How's life? I didn't get chance to ask you earlier."

"I –um – yeah, it's good, I'm good,"

Rachel leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand, her eyes lighting up in that way they did when she was curious.

"What do you do now?"

"I've –uh – I drum. In a band. We're pretty good actually. We've just finished our first tour of the UK and I think it went really well. Our first single's just made the top forty."

Rachel's eyes shone in that way they did when she was really passionate about something, her mega-watt grin suddenly surfacing and almost dazzling Finn.

"Oh, Finn, I'm so proud of you! You're doing something you have a passion for, something you're incredibly talented at and it's paying off. I always knew you'd find _something _you wanted to do for the rest of your life!"

Her excitement made her hands shoot out to clasp his, jumping back just as quickly at the sudden current that seemed to flow between their fingers, like a static shock. She moved to withdraw her hands completely but, before she could, Finn's strong fingers were wrapping round hers, making her brilliant smile fade and her breath hitch.

When she moved her gaze upwards tentatively, she was taken aback by how close they had moved to each other. Their proximity meant that she could easily make out his faint freckles against his pale skin. Her eyes traced over the face she knew so well, a little older and wiser now, but still Finn. Every birthmark, every freckle, the tiny little scar just above his right eyebrow, the flick of his eyelashes, the curve of his lips; it was all exactly how she remembered him.

Finn's eyes did the same as Rachel's, taking a tour of her face and remembering every miniscule detail as if he had seen her every day for a thousand years. Looking down at her soft, plump lips, his tongue darted out to wet his own.

"Miss Rachel Berry, Mr Finn Hudson, my name is Kurt Hummel and I will be your waiter tonight."

The high soprano voice shocked them both and they sprang backwards, Finn almost colliding with his stepbrother who was walking onto the stage behind them, a tray with wine glasses and several bottles on it balanced on his hand with perfect precision.

"Watch it!" Kurt snapped, before remembering he was supposed to be the suave butler and continuing with his performance.

When Rachel wasn't looking, Finn made sure to give him a death glare, flipping his finger up at him in annoyance. Knowing Kurt, he'd probably been lurking in the wings all evening since they arrived, just waiting for the most inopportune moment possible to interrupt with his whole waiter charade.

Flustered, Rachel smoothed out her dress, running her fingers over the material and then over her hair, before picking up her purse and beginning to fiddle with it again. She chastised herself mentally for initiating physical contact with Finn, trying to rationally explain why she was suddenly feeling so annoyed at Kurt and doing her utmost to convince herself her heart had not been beating that fast until Kurt made her jump.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Kurt offered, holding out the tray.

"Just some water –oh – actually never mind, I'll have a glass of red wine," Rachel decided, hoping a little alcohol might make the tension dissipate again.

"Yeah, same."

Balancing the tray on top of the picnic basket, Kurt poured out the two glasses of wine and passed them to Finn and Rachel.

"Dinner will be served in a moment," he informed them, straightening his bow-tie and disappearing backstage again.

Kurt interruption had suddenly increased the tension again and Finn found himself taking constant sips of wine, just to try and make the silence less awkward. Fortunately, it wasn't long at all before Kurt returned with a plate of food in each hand.

"Your meal today is chicken – or, in Rachel's case, a vegan substitute – served with mushroom tartlets and tomato salad. Bon appetite!" he bowed, retreating back into the wings.

"Thank you Mr waiter, now go away and stay away!" Finn yelled over his shoulder, causing Rachel to giggle a little.

Raising her glass to her lips, Rachel stopped uncertainly.

"Well…cheers," she said softly, raising it towards Finn instead.

"Here's to – " Finn hesitated, unsure what was safe to make a toast to without reminding them both even more of previous toasts they'd made.

"Our daughters," Rachel smiled.

"Our daughters," Finn echoed, nodding his head, eyes shining as he was suddenly overcome by some strong emotion he hadn't felt for a long time.

Catching Rachel's eye, he thought he saw his feelings reflected there, but before he could look any deeper into them, they flickered away to look down at her dinner instead.

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The alcohol had obviously been effective, seeing as conversation had flowed constantly after they began eating. It was surprising, Rachel thought, how easily she and Finn could slip back into their natural friendship, even after the last time they had seen each other had ended on the worst possible terms and that was over a decade ago.

Then again, she mused, her relationship with Finn had always been like that – a comfortable, easy way of just _being _around each other. When they'd been together they had often spent hours just lying around in one of their rooms and talking about anything and everything.

A feeling oddly like nostalgia overtook her as she remembered how easy things with Finn had been before, but she supressed it, reminding herself _again _that she was engaged to Jesse, whom she loved very much.

The time passed so quickly that they didn't even realise how late it was until Finn glanced at his watch and noticed it was almost one in the morning.

Packing up their used glassware, crockery and cutlery in the picnic basket, they started to make their way back to the main hotel.

The cool night air made Rachel shiver as they exited the back of the theatre. Hesitantly, Finn put his arm around her shoulders.

"I'm just keeping you warm," he assured her when she flinched.

"Thank you, Finn," Rachel murmured, relaxing into his touch and leaning into his side automatically, immediately feeling much warmer.

The awkwardness had completey vanished and the silence that filled the space between them as they walked back to their rooms was now comfortable and peaceful and just felt _right_.

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"Evie, it's one o'clock and they're still not back!" Ariella whispered excitedly next to her sister in the double bed they were both curled up in, in Rachel's room.

"I know! Oh my goodness, maybe they've realised how much they love each other and they're –" she broke off as the door opened and Rachel stepped in, beaming widely, her cheeks tinged ever so faintly pink.

"You two should be asleep by now," she told her daughters sternly, but the smile on her face gave away the fact that she wasn't really even a bit angry.

"How did it go?" Eva asked her, sitting up in bed eagerly.

"The meal was very nice, thank you," Rachel replied, her eyes sparkling at her daughters' excitement.

"But what about Dad? Did you –"

"Yes, we had a very nice meal together. Yes, it was lovely catching up after such a long time. No, we didn't fall madly back in love or kiss passionately, or whatever else you two have been whispering about. Now go on, it's late and you're supposed to be in your Dad's room, Ariella," Rachel answered gently, smirking widely as she imagined her daughters dreaming up ridiculous romantic fantasies.

She ushered Ariella out of the room, kissing her on the head and whispering an 'I love you', then headed into the bathroom to change into her pyjamas.

Smiling softly, she shook her head at Eva's tiny form snuggled up in the double bed and slipped under the covers next to her.

Turning over and settling in the pillow, she was still unable to wipe the smile off her face as she relaxed, letting peace and contentment wash over her.

Her hand rose up to lightly trace over the faint blush of her cheek where Finn's lips had kissed her softly minutes before.

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><p><strong>Awww, it looks like Finchel are getting back into the swing of things. I hope you liked this chapter; as always, I'd be very grateful for your reviews to let me know what you thought.<strong>

**In other news, if you haven't already seen it, I wrote a 'Morning After' drabble a few weeks ago if anyone wants to read it. Just click on my username and you'll find it under my fics.**

**Thank you very much for reading! I'll try to update as soon as possible!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello and Merry (belated) Christmas everyone! I'm sorry...I'm late again, I know. Life just has to go and get in the way sometimes. Anyway, thank you so much for all your lovely reviews for the last chapter and to anyone who has been reading this fic. Personally, I'm not a fan of this chapter, but no matter which way I tried to write it, it just didn't seem to want to come out. I hope you like it more than I do!**

**Disclaimer: Neither Glee, nor The Parent Trap are mine**

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><p>The shrill beeping of her phone startled Rachel, waking her up from her deep, peaceful sleep.<p>

Rolling over, she reached out to grab it from the nightstand. Seeing that the message was from Jesse, she felt oddly disappointed, and then angry at herself for feeling that way. Last night had been wonderful but it was time to head back to the real world – back to her life in New York City and her fiancé.

New York… Their flight!

Glancing over at the clock, Rachel saw that it was already half past seven in the morning. She sprung out of bed, rushing into the bathroom to shower as quickly as she possibly could.

Towelling her hair dry, she ran back into the room, and began taking her clothes out of the closet, folding them precisely and stacking them all neatly in her suitcase.

By the time she'd finished gathering and packing her belongings, it was already just after eight. Hurriedly, she blow-dried her hair, smoothing it into a ponytail and applying a little makeup. The worst thing about being a nationally-renowned Broadway star had to be the constant pressure to look presentable in public. For the most part, Rachel managed to keep her private life low-profile, but it wasn't without a lot of hard work and a lot of arguments with reporters and paparazzi who seemed to think that it was acceptable to photograph her taking her daughter to school. However much she supported her daughter's dreams of eventual stardom, she didn't want Eva's life all over when she was still so young.

Speaking of which, where was Eva?

Rachel knocked on the adjoining door which led to Kurt's room, pulling her suitcase behind her.

"Kurt, is Evie in here with you?" she asked her best friend, who was folding what appeared to be the entire Marc Jacobs Summer Collection into his suitcase.

He looked up as he answered.

"No, I haven't seen her today at all. Have you tried Finn's room?"

At the mention of her ex-husband's name, Rachel's cheeks turned slightly pink, her hand rising almost subconsciously to touch the spot where he'd kissed her as he'd bade her goodnight.

"In fact, talking of my brother, how was last night?" Kurt asked her.

"Good. Great, in fact. It was lovely to catch up with him," Rachel replied softly, lowering her eyes slightly so Kurt couldn't see her full expression.

"I'm sure. It looked like you two were getting pretty _close _again," Kurt smirked.

At his slight provocation, Rachel immediately jumped into defensive mode.

"I don't know what you're trying to insinuate, Kurt, but I am incredibly offended that you would have the audacity to even assume there is anything between Finn and I which isn't completely platonic. We had a lovely meal together as friends and took the opportunity to catch up on the past several years. Whatever ridiculous romantic ideas you have about Finn and I, you can get rid of them now because there is nothing happening!"

Kurt raised his eyebrows slightly at her outburst, making sure that she didn't see his expression. He could do without a Rachel Berry diva fit when he was trying to ensure all of his numerous clothes and skincare products were safely packed in such a short space of time.

Rachel turned on her heel and stormed out of the room, heading in search of Eva. When she arrived at the hotel lobby, she saw Finn standing next to a pile of luggage and immediately hurried over to him.

"Finn, have you seen Eva?"

She deliberately avoided looking directly at his face as she asked, not quite ready to confront the barrage of feelings which assaulted her every time she did so.

"No, I thought she was with you?"

Even his voice sent a tiny thrill up her spine, remembering the gentle way he'd spoken to her the night before.

Rachel huffed in annoyance, scanning the lobby again.

"I haven't seen her all morning and I really need her to be here now. We have to leave at nine or we'll miss our flight back home."

Just as Rachel was beginning to panic, Eva and Ariella rounded the corner, coming into sight of their parents and both pulling suitcases.

"Oh, good, Evie, there you are. Where have you been? We really need to get going very soon."

The twin whom Rachel had been addressing rose an eyebrow, grinning mysteriously.

"Are you sure I'm Eva, mom?"

"Yes – I mean, uh, I –" Rachel faltered, looking between the two girls in front of her. Their identical faces bore identical expressions of amusement.

"Girls, don't do this. One of you is going back to New York and you need to leave in a few minutes," Finn stepped in, looking at them both sternly.

"But which one of us is it?" the other twin asked, speaking in the exact same voice.

Rachel peered at each of their faces in turn, suddenly realising just how identical her daughters were. Eventually she looked at the one on the right, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"This one's Eva. Definitely," she concluded, looking over at Finn.

"Are you one hundred per cent _sure_, mom?" Eva challenged.

"Because it would be a terrible mistake if you took the wrong one of us back with you and we ended up in the wrong places again, wouldn't it?" Ariella smirked, enjoying Finn and Rachel's expressions of complete dismay.

Finn looked down at Rachel who shrugged, the confusion and annoyance evident in her eyes.

"Ariella Jasmine Hudson, Eva Rose Berry, I'm serious. Tell me who's who because your mother needs to go back to New York and I can't just let one of you go with her if I don't know which one of you it is. Tell me now, which one of you is Eva," Finn said, looking back and forth between his daughters' faces.

The girls glanced at each other, sly smiles appearing on their faces as they spoke simultaneously.

"I am."

Rachel let out a loud sigh, cursing herself for passing on her stubbornness to her daughters and trying to keep her temper with both of them, all too aware of the time ticking.

"Girls, please. We need to leave now."

"So take us both," Ariella suggested.

"What? Absolutely not," Rachel protested firmly.

"We want to stay together at least until the end of the summer. Take us back to New York together and we promise to tell you our identities if we can stay with each other for a week," Eva continued, daring her parents to challenge her plan.

Rachel glanced at her watch and then up at Finn, making eye contact with him properly for the first time that morning. His mouth suddenly felt dry and he had to lick his lips before he answered her silent plea for advice.

"It's not…a bad idea," he volunteered hesitantly, unsure of Rachel's reaction and determinedly looking at the floor again as he spoke, feeling his ears go slightly red and his heart thud in his chest at the fact that he was practically inviting himself back to his ex-wife's house.

When he dared to glance up she had on her sceptical, angry, 'what did you just say?' face on. He quickly fumbled to try and explain before she went all angry-Rachel on him.

"I mean, the girls should really have a little more time together and you want to see more of Ariella, right? And we can sort out what we're going to do about what they're doing after and we don't want to get them mixed up again…" he trailed off at the look she gave him.

After a few tense seconds' silence, she nodded.

"Okay, I don't have time to argue. I need to get home for my show and we're going to miss our flight if we don't go now." She paused, her expression suddenly turning much softer, her eyes losing their annoyance and replacing it with that look of gentleness and appreciation, "Thank you, Finn. I really do want to spend more time with both my daughters. And I suppose it wouldn't be too bad if you came along too."

Finn felt his heart rate suddenly accelerate again as she looked up at him from under her eyelashes in the exact way she used to look at him every day.

Then the moment was broken as Kurt came rushing towards them, panting with the weight of his enormous suitcase and telling Rachel the taxi was waiting.

"I _know_ we're late, Kurt," she snapped irately, hurrying out of the lobby with her daughters and Finn in tow.

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Fortunately, the roads were mostly clear and they arrived at the airport in time to check in without incident. The flight was smooth, albeit a little awkward when Rachel ended up temporarily sitting on top of Finn to let the flight attendant pass her in the aisle as they were finding their seats.

Now, however, Rachel's heart was beginning to pound again as she unlocked the door of her apartment, hoping Jesse hadn't chosen to stay the night there in anticipation of her return. She shoved the door open a little harder than necessary in frustration when she realised she was nearly wishing her fiancé away _again_. Why couldn't she just be crazily excited to see him, like any normal girlfriend would be?

Ignoring the unbidden voice in her head which whispered that it just _might _have something to do with the man who was currently supporting several suitcases and both their daughters, who were falling asleep, Rachel quickly pointed out Eva's room.

Putting her bag down on the table in the living room, she took her phone out and sent a quick text to Kurt, checking that he'd reached his apartment safely. While the message was sending, she glanced into her room, noticing with relief that Jesse was obviously at his own apartment for the night. She was far too tired to have to deal with him and Finn under the same roof.

Rachel headed into Eva's room and her heart melted at the sight in front of her. Eva and Ariella were both snuggled up in Eva's queen-sized bed, both obviously completely exhausted from the long journey.

Hearing her come in, Finn straightened up from where he'd been bent over both of their heads, kissing them goodnight. Rachel's eyes met his and, for a second, they lingered before she softly padded over to the other side of the bed and leaned over to kiss her daughters and whisper goodnight to them too.

Looking up, she caught Finn's eye again, and the softness in his gaze almost made her knees collapse. He smiled at her and nodded his head towards the door, motioning that they should both go.

"Mommy?"

Her daughter's voice stopped her just as she was about to leave the room, and she turned back to face the bed.

"Daddy's perfect," Eva whispered quietly, so that Finn, who was now standing outside in the hallway, couldn't hear.

The simple statement made Rachel's eyes suddenly mist up with tears.

"I know," she admitted, so softly that it almost wasn't a whisper at all, "I know."

Turning into the hallway, she blinked, getting her emotions under control and entered her room, taking off her shoes and putting them neatly in the shoe rack beside her wardrobe.

A slight noise behind her made her turn round, to see Finn standing there awkwardly, holding his suitcase.

"Um, where am I sleeping?" he asked.

Rachel clapped a hand over her mouth, suddenly realising the enormous logistical nightmare of this plan.

"Oh, Finn, I'm so sorry, I hadn't even thought about it!" she gasped, glancing round her bedroom for some solution.

"It's okay; I can always sleep on the couch or something?" he offered, shrugging.

"No, my couch is much too small, Finn! I don't think you'll fit and you've had a long flight and a good night's sleep is very important for your health. I might have a camp-bed, or a spare mattress or something if I look – I know Kurt does! We could borrow Kurt's; it's not too far to his apartment and –"

"Rachel," Finn cut her off, "How are we going to get a mattress back here when neither of us has a car and we can't leave the girls here by themselves?"

Rachel paused, looking up at him and sighing.

"Well, I'll have to sleep on the couch then," she decided, beginning to pick up her pillows to take them into the living room.

"But I can't just kick you out of your bed!" Finn argued, taking the pillows off her.

"Well, what else are we going to do?"

Silence fell, both of them glancing at the bed and then back at each other. Finn raised an eyebrow at her and Rachel sighed, pulling her comforter off the bed and peeling the sheets back. She rolled it up, laying it lengthways down the centre of the bed.

"Right. That's my side and that's yours. We sleep on our own sides, separated by the comforter. Okay?"

Finn's mouth suddenly felt dry at the prospect of sleeping mere inches away from his ex-wife, but he licked his lips and nodded.

"Yeah. I mean, we're just…we're not…it's not like we're…we can go and get a spare mattress from Kurt tomorrow," he fumbled, his ears growing hot.

"You can use the bathroom to change," Rachel added, pointing to the door on the opposite wall.

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The sound of drawers being opened and closed in the room next door was driving Finn insane.

As much as he tried to think of anything else, all he could imagine was Rachel getting changed, just the other side of the bathroom door. He perched on the side of the tub, fidgeting as he fought the urge to open the door a fraction and peek into the room.

Thankfully, just then, Rachel's voice called him from the other room, telling him he could come back in.

He rushed over to the bed, and quickly pulled the covers over himself before Rachel could see the…_effects_ of his recent thoughts.

By the time she came back out of the bathroom and climbed into the other side of the bed, he was so comfortable and relaxed that he was almost asleep.

"Rachel?" he murmured, "Our daughters are pretty amazing, aren't they?"

"Mhmm," she mumbled, her voice sounding soft and sleepy, "They're perfect."

"Yeah."

He waited a few seconds.

"Rach?"

"Mmm?"

"I've missed you."

Her breath hitched slightly and he could hear the tremor in her voice when she answered.

"I've missed you too. You were my best friend."

It took him a second before he replied, his heart clenching.

"I'm still here, you know."

"I know, Finn."

The covers shifted slightly as he felt her warm hand snake over the thick divider and touch his arm.

The familiar feel of her thumb running along his arm brought tears to his eyes, suddenly making him realise just how much he'd missed this.

"Well, goodnight, Rachel."

"Goodnight, Finn."

He listened until her breathing was slow and even, letting the sound of it ease him into a deep sleep.

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><p><strong>Well, there you have it. I wonder what will happen when Jesse finds out about all this? I'd be really grateful if you reviewed; I'd love to know your thoughts and ideas, and they do keep me motivated to write!<strong>

**Have a Happy New Year, everyone, and thanks for reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello everyone! Thank you so much for your patience and also for your lovely reviews. I'm so grateful that you've taken the time to read this fic and let me know what you think.**

**This chapter's a bit of a filler because it was originally the start of the next one, but it was getting pretty long and I wanted to update sooner, so I split them. We haven't got too long left to go on this now; I'm estimating about 3 or 4 chapters more, plus an epilogue.**

**On a side note, I've recently joined The Pastry Shoppe staff on tumblr. Make sure you go and check out the Finchel fic recommendations on there!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Glee, don't own The Parent Trap.**

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><p>"Evie! Eva! Come and look at this!" Ariella hissed in the direction of the open bedroom door. Her sister's head poked round the side of the doorframe, curiosity written all over it.<p>

"What?" she whispered.

"Come and look!"

Impatient and eager to show her sister, Ariella rushed down the hall, grabbed Eva's wrist and pulled her back towards the open door of Rachel's room.

Motioning excitedly, she pointed at the bed, where two lumps were visible under the covers, and the sound of soft, deep breathing could be heard. Eva put a finger over her lips and slipped past her sister, creeping into the bedroom and over to the bed to get a better view.

Taking care to sneak as quietly as possible, Ariella followed her sister over, looking down at the sight before them with a huge grin on her face.

Both Rachel and Finn were fast asleep, breathing softly and rhythmically with their faces inches apart. The comforter which had been set up to divide the bed was flattened, squashed underneath Finn whose body was almost wrapped right around Rachel's, his hand resting centimetres from her own.

They stood there for a few moments, just looking, before Eva pulled Ariella out into the living room, letting out a tiny squeak of excitement.

"Did you see them? The way they were all curled up and close together and, oh my God, Ari, it's actually working!"

Ever the drama queen, Eva clapped a hand over her heart, sighing loudly and flopping onto the sofa.

Her sister turned and ran out of the room, rushing back into their bedroom and then creeping into Rachel's again, her phone clasped in her hand. Holding it up over their sleeping parents, she snapped a quick photo, jumping as Rachel began to stir and hurrying out of the room to show the picture to Eva.

"Send it to Uncle Kurt!" Eva giggled, almost jumping up and down in delight. Just as she spoke, Ariella's phone began to vibrate in her hand with a call from their uncle.

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The first thing Rachel became conscious of as she awoke from her deep sleep was the heavy warmth pressing into her side. Opening her eyes, she found herself almost nose-to-nose with Finn, his eyelids flickering centimetres from her own.

Drawing in a sharp breath at their proximity, she recollected herself and pulled back, almost leaping out of the bed.

"Huh?"

Her movement awoke Finn, who sat up, looking around confusedly until he noticed her.

"Rach? Are you okay?"

She smiled, smoothing down her hair and acting as casually as possible.

"Of course, Finn. I'm absolutely fine. I was just wondering if you wanted any breakfast…but that's kind of a silly question, isn't it?" she laughed "I'm assuming your appetite hasn't changed?"

"Yes – um, no – I mean, yeah, something to eat would be great," he confirmed, smiling back at her. Noticing his wandering eyes, she suddenly became conscious of the thin material of her nightshirt and quickly threw her dressing gown over her body.

"Nice outfit," he commented, eyes shining as he gestured at her silky robe which was embroidered with sequinned stars.

"Thank you. Kurt designed it especially for me as a thirtieth birthday present."

"Pretty sexy figure it's being modelled on too."

"Finn!" she chastised, trying her best to look stern.

Turning round from the closet, she saw him still sitting there just grinning up at her, surrounded by a sea of duvet, his hair tousled, and she couldn't resist looking back over her shoulder flirtatiously as she walked out of the room, biting her lip to stop herself smiling too widely.

Upon entering the kitchen, she found both of her daughters in their pyjamas, one of them stirring a pan on the stove and one pouring out mixture from a jug onto the griddle.

"Good morning, beautiful," she greeted them both.

"Morning."

She jumped at the deep voice behind her, realising that Finn had sneaked into the kitchen behind her.

"I wasn't talking to you!" she laughed, swatting him with a tea towel which had been hanging on the counter and trying not to swoon at the smirk he gave her in return, or the fact that he was only dressed in his undershirt and boxers.

"Pancakes?" he asked the girls, who were both giggling behind her.

"American-style blueberry ones with lots of syrup," Ariella grinned, flipping the browning circle on the griddle over.

"Mmmm, sounds great!"

Rachel smiled to herself at his enthusiasm as she opened the cupboard to get out some plates and glasses.

Just as she set them down on the counter, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it – it's probably Kurt," Finn offered.

Looking through the peephole, he swore under his breath as he recognised the mop of curly hair. Bracing himself, he opened the door.

"Jesse."

The man standing in the hallway looked momentarily shocked, his face hardening and his eyes narrowing.

"_What_ are you doing here?"

"Rachel invited us to stay with her a while longer. I guess she wanted to spend more time with me and _our _daughters."

"Well, I guess I just want to spend time with _my _fiancée," Jesse shot back.

"Jesse!" Rachel's voice cut through the tension crackling between the two men standing in the entrance to the apartment.

"Hi Rachel, baby," he greeted her, pulling her towards him for a deep kiss, forcing his tongue into her mouth. She complied for a few moments, while Finn rolled his eyes and resisted the childish urge to make vomiting noises.

"How come you're here? I thought you had rehearsal this morning?" she asked.

"Evidently, or you wouldn't be wandering around your apartment with your ex-husband with neither of you even dressed," he retorted.

"Jesse, don't do this. Finn is staying here because Ari and Eva want to spend a little more time together and then he and Ari will return to England next week in time for her to go back to school."

"Okay, baby. I understand," he smiled at her, pulling her to him for another peck on the lips.

Trying to conceal her surprise at his sudden change in attitude, Rachel kissed him back gratefully, glad that he wasn't going to make a bigger fuss.

"Thank you. Would you like to join us for breakfast?" she offered, leading him into the living room where the twins were laying the table.

"Only if I'm not intruding on your _family time_," Jesse answered, smirking at Finn pointedly in that way that made him want to punch him in his smug little face.

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"Uncle Kurt phoned earlier," Eva spoke up as she finished her pancake, breaking the tense silence which had been present throughout the meal. The three girls had been doing a pretty good job of keeping the conversation going lightly, but it definitely wasn't easy when Finn and Jesse were glowering at each other over their plates.

"Hm? What did he want?" Finn asked, tearing his eyes away from Rachel, who was licking some excess syrup from the corner of her mouth in a way which made it very hard to concentrate on anything else.

Before Eva could answer, they heard the sound of the apartment door being unlocked and Kurt appeared in the doorway of the living room a few seconds later.

"Ah, the Berry-Hudson breakfast, with…an addition," he noted, by way of a greeting, pulling up the piano stool to join them at the table.

Rachel looked at him sternly in response to his comment and put her arm on top of Jesse's, taking his hand. He leaned in and kissed her tenderly on the lips, eliciting an eye-roll from Kurt and a snort of laughter from Ariella, who had just noticed her sister's elaborate mime of throwing up her breakfast at the sight.

"Girls," Finn warned them, trying hard to keep a straight face himself.

"Well, when you two over there in PDA city have quite finished…"

They broke apart as Kurt spoke, looking over at him.

"I'm sorry, am I not allowed to show my fiancée just how much I love her?" Jesse asked, leaning over to peck Rachel on the lips again.

"Not when we've just eaten," Finn muttered darkly, making both girls giggle and Rachel press her lips together in that adorable way she did when she was trying to swallow a smile.

"Oh, and this is your business because?" Jesse snapped back.

"Can't you see you're making her uncomfortable, kissing her like that in front of all of us?" Finn retorted. Rachel reddened at his outburst, shifting a little nervously, but when he caught her eye, he didn't miss the quick, grateful smile she sent him.

"Anyway," Kurt interrupted, breaking up the argument before Finn and Jesse went all 'Junior-Prom' on each other again, "it's a beautiful day today and I was thinking we could all go out for a day trip to Central Park together. I _did_ book a boat trip on the lake but unfortunately I only have four tickets, seeing as I was planning on it being a Hudson and Berry family trip only."

"That's a great idea! I've always wanted to go to Central Park and I'd love to go on a family boat trip!" Ariella enthused, beaming at Uncle Kurt.

"It's just such a shame I won't get to join you," Jesse sighed, turning his mouth up in a sad little smile, which made Finn's eyes narrow at his obvious insincerity.

"Girls, why don't you go and get dressed and we'll talk about this until we find a solution?" Rachel suggested.

"Why can't we just do what Uncle Kurt suggested?" Eva asked, pouting as she flounced out of the room, Ariella giving her mother a similar look before following.

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The twins looked up from where they were standing outside the apartment door as Rachel approached, holding Jesse's hand.

"Are you two ready to go?" she asked, bending down to pull on her sandals.

"Where's dad?" Ariella asked, glaring at the man behind her mother.

"Jesse's coming with us instead," Rachel smiled.

"What? Whose idea was that?" Eva grumbled.

"Actually, it was your father's idea. Now come on, if you're ready."

Just as she spoke, Finn walked into the hallway and was immediately accosted by his daughters' questions.

"Why aren't you coming dad? I thought this was supposed to be a _family_ day out? Why's Jesse coming instead of you?"

He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of them both standing there, hands on their hips, looking so much like their mother as they demanded an explanation for this terrible injustice.

"It's okay, really. I'd love to come, but Uncle Kurt and I have decided we're gonna have some brotherly catch-up time since it's been so long since we last saw each other."

To his surprise, Rachel turned to question him.

"Are you sure you don't mind, Finn? I mean, Jesse and I have seen the park before and we can go any time we want, seeing as we live so nearby."

"It's fine, Rachel. I mean, this is a great opportunity for Jesse and the girls to really get to know each other more before the wedding, right?" The words tasted bitter on his tongue as he forced himself to say them, keeping his expression as neutral as possible.

The tenderness in her eyes was almost unbearable as looked up at him, stuttering slightly in her reply.

"I – I suppose it is, yes," she agreed, her heart aching at his sudden generosity, "that's very thoughtful of you, Finn."

"No problem." he smiled at the four of them, waiting until Rachel and Jesse's backs were turned to wink at Eva and Ariella, jerking his head towards Jesse:

"Enjoy yourselves."

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><p><strong>Next chapter: I wonder what mischief Ari and Evie will get up to at the park...? ;) I should be able to update soon, as I've already written quite a good amount of the next chapter.<strong>

**Thank you so much for reading! Reviews are always welcome!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello, and a happy belated Valentine's Day to you all! **

**Tank you so, so much for all you lovely comments; I can't believe this fic actually has over 300 reviews! Once again, I'm sorry this chapter took so long - for some reason it just didn't want to come out at all, and then the site wasn't letting me log in. Particular thanks go to Victoria (LC86) for her knowledge of Central Park, and to Ashley (finn-studson on Tumblr), who helped me out with the US terminology for a gents' public toilet! :P**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee and I don't own The Parent Trap**

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><p>Ariella felt ready to punch something. It had been what felt like <em>hours <em>and all they'd done was stroll around the park, her and Eva being forced to watch the Jesse and Rachel PDA show.

The couple were holding hands, walking several metres ahead of the two of them, and every few seconds Jesse would peck Rachel's cheek or stroke her hair. It was nauseating watching any grown-ups snogging, but it was definitely ten times worse when the person initiating the kissing was the biggest jerk on the planet and the person he was kissing was your mom, when you were trying to reunite her with your father in the space of about three days.

She scuffed her feet along the path, glaring at Jesse and Rachel's backs and deliberately trailing slowly behind them. Eva walked along beside her, looking equally fed-up and occasionally imitating something Jesse would say, gesticulating wildly and pulling faces.

"Girls?" Rachel turned around, Eva assuming a straight face before her mother could see what she was doing. Gesturing to the grassy area surrounding them, Rachel turned to look at her fiancé as she spoke.

"Jesse and I were thinking this looks like a good spot for a picnic lunch. What do you think?"

Ariella shrugged and Eva muttered her assent, looking as disinterested as possible.

"Come on, you two. I know you wanted Finn to come but he's out with Uncle Kurt, so you might as well enjoy the beautiful weather and our day out together," Rachel persuaded her daughters, glancing at Jesse a little worriedly.

"It's okay. I understand it must take some time getting used to a new father figure. How about you and I set up the picnic and the girls can go and get us some ice-creams as a special treat?"

Rachel beamed at Jesse's suggestion, pecking him on the cheek and missing the way he smirked at Ariella and Eva who were both glaring at him.

"That sounds like a great plan!" Rachel enthused, setting down her enormous day bag and handing Eva some money.

"Evie, we've _got_ to do something!" Ariella exploded almost as soon as they were out of earshot, "Dad and I are going home in _two_ days and since we've come to New York, Jesse's been all over mom every second since he arrived this morning. If we don't do something drastic soon, we're going to end up with St. Jerkface as our stepdad and this whole plan will have failed!" she wailed, frustrated.

Thinking furiously, Eva ordered their ice-creams, barely concentrating on what she was doing as she brainstormed any means possible to hijack Jesse and Rachel's impending wedding. As she received the ice-creams from the cashier and handed over the money, an advertisement for a new attraction in Central Park Zoo caught her eye and she had a sudden flash of inspiration.

"Hey Ari?" she smirked, grabbing a small plastic spoon from the counter, holding up the ice-creams and grinning devilishly at her sister, "How do you feel about a quick bug-hunt?"

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"Jesse, are you sure they're alright?" Rachel worried. The girls had been gone quite a long time and she was beginning to go into neurotic mother mode.

"I'm sure they're fine. The queue's probably just long, it is a sunny day after all," Jesse reassured her, kissing her neck softly.

Rachel fidgeted in his lap.

"Maybe I should call one of them, just in case?" she suggested, leaning over towards her handbag.

"No, Rachel, you're worrying too much. They won't want you checking up on them every second. Why can't we just enjoy a little alone time together before they come back?" Jesse pulled her back, kissing her again.

She allowed herself to be pulled back into his lap, a slightly awkward silence falling between them.

"You know, I wonder if it would have been better if it had just been you and me today," Jesse mused, "I mean, it has to be said that their negative attitude is dampening the mood of this day out and perhaps it would be more enjoyable if they had gone with Kurt and Finn instead?" he continued, causing Rachel to turn around and glare at him, sliding off his legs.

"I thought this was supposed to be a family bonding day, Jesse. Can't you understand that it's difficult for the girls to adapt to you so quickly, especially when they were hoping to have a day with both of their parents? Maybe it would have been more enjoyable if you'd stayed at home, seeing as your attitude appears to be pretty negative too," she retaliated, feeling a sudden, unexpected anger.

Jesse looked affronted for a moment, before he leaned in to press his lips against hers again.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, Rachy."

Rachel pulled back, turning her head so that his kiss landed more on her cheek than her mouth.

"Jesse, you can't just try and pacify me with kisses every time we disagree with each other," she began, more than a little frustrated with his incessant mollycoddling.

"Sorry we took a while, Mom, the queue was pretty long" Ariella interrupted the argument, handing over Rachel's ice-cream.

Turning away from Jesse's 'I-told-you-so' look, which was doing nothing to decrease her ire, Rachel forced herself to smile brightly at her daughter and patted the picnic blanket next to her.

As she sat down next to their mother, Ariella caught Eva's eye and she had to swallow the giggle which threatened to escape as Eva glanced over at Jesse's ice-cream, her eyes glinting.

Ariella focused on licking her own ice-cream, looking down determinedly in case she caught Eva's eye again. Fortunately, Eva was too busy focusing on wiping some strawberry sauce off her mouth, anticipating the payoff of her genius idea.

It was about three minutes later when Jesse leapt up, shrieking and dropping his ice-cream all over his jeans.

Rachel looked up, alarmed, at her fiancé who was rubbing at his lips and tongue furiously and spitting on the ground.

Under the guise of wiping some ice-cream from her mouth, Ariella looked over at her sister, whose shoulders were shaking, her lips pressed together with the effort of preventing herself from laughing. She held her own hand to her mouth, trying to stop a giggle from escaping.

"What is it, what's wrong, Jesse?" Rachel panicked, looking confusedly at Jesse who looked as if he might throw up any second.

"Ugh – ice-cream – them," Jesse rasped out, pointing an accusing finger at the twins.

Rachel looked suspiciously at her daughters, both of whom were looking convincingly confused and innocent.

Eva bent over to pick up Jesse's ice-cream cone, putting her inherited acting genes to good use as she exclaimed and dropped it back on the ground.

"What is it?" Ariella asked, darting forward to pick up the cone.

"Ugh!" she held it up for Rachel to see, as Jesse continued to panic.

Rachel's stomach almost turned over at the sight of several ants crawling over the smooth vanilla cream, working their way up the sides as they found their way through the ice-cream from the bottom of the cone.

The worst was yet to come, however, and Rachel screamed, tossing the ice-cream away from her as the tiny, pink end of the worm's tail began to poke its way up through the middle of the remaining cream.

Eva couldn't help the snort of laughter that escaped her as the cone soared through the air and hit Jesse before dropping to the ground, spattering tiny droplets of ice-cream all over his clothes.

"Oh my goodness, Jesse, I'm so sorry," Rachel gasped, rushing over to him and turning to look sternly at her daughters who were both having difficulty supressing their giggles. The effect was slightly ruined by the twisted smirk which appeared on her face momentarily at Jesse's scream, the pitch of which would have made Kurt jealous.

Searching quickly through her handbag, she pulled out a packet of face-wipes and began to dab at Jesse's shirt.

Ariella took advantage of her mother's momentary distraction, turning to high-five Eva, both of them giggling at the spectacular effect of their prank.

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Rachel tapped her foot, glancing at her watch again as she tried to hide her impatience. Ever since the ice-cream debacle, Jesse had spent the whole afternoon in an awful mood, and, frankly, she was finding him incredibly unpleasant to be around at the moment.

"Do you want me to go give him a shout?" Eva offered.

Just as Rachel was about to agree, Jesse came out of the restroom, striding over to where they were waiting.

"Come on, we have to go now or we're going to miss our boat trip!" Rachel urged him, picking up her bag and rushing towards the boat house in the distance.

Once she was sure they were near enough to get there on time, she slowed down again; Eva, Ariella and Jesse catching up with her.

Suddenly taking in her surroundings, she paused, a wave of nostalgia flooding her memory as she realised she was standing on Bow Bridge. It wasn't that she'd consciously avoided this place since she'd been living in New York, but the current circumstances made her mind immediately flash back to that perfect, amazingly romantic 'work date', instead of her usual ignoring of any memories which tried to surface whenever she happened to go anywhere near this part of the park.

Her heart almost stopped as she recreated the moment in her head and relived the look of utter love in Finn's expression when he gave her those beautiful flowers and then took her on the most magnificent date her 16-year-old-self could ever have dreamed of. Tears began to prick at the back of her eyes as she remembered their eventual reunion at the end of that year: the way she and Finn had melted seamlessly back together because that was the way it worked, because that was how it was meant to be…

Eva's voice calling her over shook Rachel out of her daydream and she blinked, clearing her thoughts and focusing firmly on the present.

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The guide held out his arm, showing Ariella and Eva into the smaller seat of the rowing boat and Jesse and Rachel into the slightly wider one.

"Have fun on your boat trip. And don't make your mom and dad do all the hard work rowing," he grinned cheerfully at the twins.

"Oh, he's not their father," Rachel corrected him instantly. "I mean, well, we're not…we're not married," she added hastily at the sharp look Jesse gave her.

"Okay, well enjoy your trip," the guide answered, looking a little perplexed as he gave them a small push out into the lake.

"What was that about?" Jesse turned on Rachel.

"Oh, don't start, Jesse," she snapped back, beginning to slap the oars against the water harder than was strictly necessary. Behind them, Eva and Ariella looked at each other, grinning gleefully at their mother's obvious irritation.

"'We're not married?' I'm your _fiancé_, Rachel!" Jesse continued, taking one oar from her and beginning to row equally as hard.

"Precisely. The last time I checked, 'fiancé' meant engaged to be married, not actually married. And I don't see how you can possibly take offense at what I said when it was nothing but the truth. You're not Eva and Ariella's biological father and, married or not, that's a fact which won't change," Rachel retorted.

Jesse just huffed, turning away from her.

The four of them sat in uncomfortable silence whilst the boat began to drift at a more gentle speed across the lake as Jesse and Rachel slowed down their movements, tension beginning to ebb out of both of them as time passed.

Eventually, Jesse reached out the hand which wasn't holding the oar and touched Rachel's fingers with his own. She continued to look out across the lake, but responded by clasping her hand around his.

"I'm sorry," she murmured softly.

Eva's heart began to sink again as the couple in front of them began to make amends.

"Jesse?" Ariella spoke up beside her.

"What is it?" he answered, turning round to look at her and making the boat wobble precariously as he leant sideways.

"I was wondering if you'd mind changing places with me. I'd really like to have a go at rowing for a while," she suggested. He looked a little hesitant, so she tried using the famous pout and puppy-dog eyes combination that worked so well on her parents.

Sighing dramatically, he stood up, immediately rocking the boat even more.

"Jesse!" Rachel chastised, throwing herself in the opposite direction to try and counterbalance his force. Unfortunately all this did was make the boat tip even further and as he lifted his foot to try and step over the bench, Ariella winked at her sister and a sly, well-aimed push from Eva was all it took for him to topple backwards, his arms flailing as he tumbled into the lake.

Rachel found herself trying desperately to control her laughter for the second time that day at the sight of Jesse covered in some sort of slimy weed and splashing around in the lake. The ducks nearby began to squawk, flapping their wings as they were thrown into a sudden panic, which only made Jesse flounder more, sputtering as he accidentally inhaled some water.

"Evie, Ari," Rachel tried to give the giggling girls her most stern look, but the sight of them rolling around in fits of laughter in the back of the boat made her a chuckle bubble up out of her mouth too and she couldn't help the amusement that leaked into her voice.

By the time she'd regained control, Jesse had managed to drag himself out of the lake and stormed off in his sopping wet clothes.

Pulling the boat quickly over to the side of the lake, Rachel climbed out onto the bank and instructed the twins to return it to the boathouse before chasing after her fiancé.

"Jesse! Jesse, wait!" Rachel hurried across the grass after the retreating figure in the distance, finally catching up with him just as he turned the corner into the road where her apartment was.

"Are you okay?" she asked, breathing heavily from her brisk walking.

"What does it look like, Rachel?" he snapped, flicking his head sharply to look at her and showering her in water droplets before entering the apartment block and striding up the stairs to her front door.

She chased after him.

"Okay, I'm sorry, that was a stupid question. But it was an accident! I understand why you're upset, but don't go making this into an argument with me!"

"An accident, was it?" Jesse countered, "And accident that today has been a complete and utter –" he broke off as Kurt opened the apartment door.

"I'm sorry, might I suggest you two continue your blazing row indoors. I'm sure we're attracting far more attention than either of you would appreciate."

Unfazed, Rachel marched into the hall and turned to face Jesse, hands on her hips.

"What is your problem?"

"Well, let me see…" Jesse's voice dripped with a mixture of sarcasm and anger, "Now you mention it, I have several actually. The first one would be that ten-foot tall, _useless_ home-wrecker –"

Finn walked out of the living room, just as Jesse spoke, the hard expression in his eyes quickly turning into mirth as he took the sight of him in his dripping wet clothes and squelching shoes, his normally curly hair flat on the top of his head and a trail of pond weed on his left cheek.

"Oh, hi, Jesse. Good day at the park?" he quipped, smirking.

"Well maybe if you could control those complete savages you call your children, it might have been."

The smile immediately dropped from Finn's face, his expression turning as hard as stone. Fortunately, before he had decided if Rachel would be too mad if he beat her fiancé over the head with her Tony Award, she turned on Jesse herself, eyes blazing.

"You do not insult my daughters."

Her voice was suddenly quiet and intense and Finn could see the full wrath of Rachel Berry beginning to make its appearance.

Just then, Eva and Ariella entered the hallway and everyone's eyes turned to them.

"Okay," Jesse's voice was equally calm, "You've left me with no choice but to give you an ultimatum. I refuse to live with people who have mocked me, insulted me and tried to ruin my entire life. So you can choose, Rachel: it's me or them."

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><p><strong>Uh-oh! Looks like Jesse's finally shown his true colours.<strong>

**Hopefully you enjoyed that chapter - I know a lot of you were looking forward to it! Reviews are, as always, much appreciated.**

**If everything goes to plan, I'm pretty certain there are two chapters and an epilogue left.**

**Thank you for reading! (And enjoy the possible Finchel wedding next week! :D )**


	17. Chapter 17

**Helo everyone, and once again, thank you all for your endless patience and lovely reviews. I'm so glad you all enjoyed the last chapter. This is the penultimate chapter, so the story's really drawing to a close now.**

**Happy reading!**

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><p>It took less than a split second for Rachel to answer, her voice losing its anger and becoming calm and very, very even.<p>

"Them."

"I'm sorry, are you serious?" Jesse looked taken aback.

On impulse, and before she could register what she was doing, her hand made contact with the side of his face, causing him to reel back, clutching his cheek and leaving her feeling incredibly satisfied as she heard the loud smack of her palm against his cheek.

"Fuck you, Jesse St James."

Ignoring Kurt, Finn, Eva and Ariella's gasps at the profanity, she drew herself up to her full height, tilting her head up so she was almost nose-to-nose with Jesse.

"_Never_ question my love for my daughters again, do you hear me? Only a narcissistic, arrogant jerk would ever try to make a mother choose _anything_ over her own children. I can't believe you even have the nerve to still be standing there after you dare insult my family! We're done, Jesse."

Rachel's eyes were practically shooting fire at Jesse's face and her steely voice held absolutely no sign of any emotion other than hatred. In one last-ditch attempt to salvage his engagement, Jesse used his most appealing puppy-dog eyes on her.

"Do you know what this could do to your reputation, Rachel? We have the chance to be one of Broadway's hottest couples and if we break up all it will cause is gossip and scandal. Are you really prepared to deal with that?"

Rachel scoffed, practically spitting out her next words. "You know what? You just don't get it, do you? I don't care what people say about me – I care about my family. And if you can't see that, then honestly, Jesse, I'm absolutely ecstatic that I've avoided marrying someone so egotistical. Now get out of my apartment and leave me and my daughters alone."

Eva quickly unlatched the door, letting Ariella pull it open. Both of them looked up at Jesse innocently as Rachel stepped even closer towards him, placing both hands on his chest and forcing him out of the apartment. The second he was over the threshold, Eva met his eye, flashing her best smile at him and giving a little wave as she slammed the door in his scowling face.

"Okay, so –" Kurt was interrupted by Rachel who let out a loud, angry sob before rushing into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

"Rach –" Finn spoke, stepping towards the door as it banged shut.

The smile which was creeping onto Eva's face at Jesse's departure instantly disappeared as she stared after her mother, shocked. Her mom had never got upset just like that before. She looked over at Ariella who was wearing much the same expression.

Kurt cleared his throat, suggesting the twins went and chose a movie for them all to watch. As soon as they were in the living room and out of earshot, he and Finn turned to look at each other.

"Do you think we should –?" Finn gestured at Rachel's bedroom door, his expression sombre. He'd thought he'd be jubilant to see the back of St. Jackass (again) but right now his only concern was Rachel.

"I'll go. Go and join the girls," Kurt decided.

"Actually," Finn spoke, causing Kurt to pause with his hand on the door handle, "Would it be alright if I went? I mean, I know it's a bit…but she's…I need…I want to…" he swallowed, trying to express his overwhelming urge to comfort his ex-wife, "I know what to do," he finished, the words inadequate but the tone of his voice conveying everything he was trying to say.

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," Kurt warned him softly.

Ignoring his step-brother, Finn grabbed a glass from the work surface in the kitchen, quickly filled it with water and gently pushed the bedroom door open with a warning glance at Kurt which said he was not to interfere.

He shut the door behind him as quietly as he could and padded across the carpet. Looking up, he met Rachel's eyes as she raised her head to see the intruder. Turning his mouth up in a small smile, he sat down next to her on the bed, handing her the glass of water and tentatively brushing her hair out of her red-rimmed, watery eyes.

She gave him a grateful smile and his heart leapt oddly at how beautiful she was, even when she was crying. Moved by a sudden urge to do something, he leaned closer, putting a comforting arm around her back.

"You okay?" he asked quietly, studying her face.

"Yeah," her voice was a little hoarse from crying, so she cleared her throat before continuing, "I'm just so angry that I deluded myself into thinking Jesse was anything but a selfish pig. I honestly thought I'd gotten it right this time, but all he wanted was a 'celebrity' relationship."

Finn nodded as understandingly as he could, given that they _were_ talking about the biggest jackass in the world.

"Want me to chase him out there and punch him?" he offered, smiling jokingly but actually deadly serious.

The comment made Rachel laugh, which brought a smile to his face.

"I don't think we want a repeat of Junior Prom," she teased him lightly.

He grinned ruefully at the memory, meeting her sparkling eyes and marvelling at how they sucked him in so easily.

She reached to touch his hand couldn't help but observe how peaceful she suddenly felt, and how comfortable the silence which fell between them was. Her mind reasoned that surely in should be incredibly awkward that her ex-husband was comforting her when she'd just broken up with her boyfriend, but then again it never had been awkward with Finn.

The warmth of his hand in hers made her feel so safe and secure and she looked up into his beautiful face, all of her anger suddenly melted away.

"Thank you for making me feel better, Finn," she smiled, sipping the glass of water.

"No problem. Nobody insults our baby girls and gets away with it."

His words made her stomach flip, almost like she had butterflies, as she recognised the truth in his words: it didn't matter what was going on between her and Finn; Eva and Ariella would always come first for both of them.

That crooked grin which always left her feeling slightly breathless was still present on his face as she looked up at him.

The way she glanced at him from under her lashes filled Finn with a sudden longing. Unable to help himself, he leaned towards her and her breathing suddenly quickened a little as their eyes kept steady contact.

When their faces were only inches apart, he suddenly recollected himself, remembering that she'd just broken up with her fiancé. He parted her bangs and pecked her quickly, lightly on the forehead, rubbing his thumb over her cheek to wipe away the drying remnants of her tears.

Even at the briefest of touches, the contact his lips made with her skin made Rachel's heart swell and both of them sat there for a moment, their faces close together before Finn finally made a move to pull back, running his hand along her arm to take her hand as he stood up.

"The girls and Kurt are watching a movie – want to go and join them?" he suggested, tugging on her hand to pull her up from the bed.

Entering the living room, they found Eva and Ariella curled up together under a blanket, with Uncle Kurt sitting next to them, all of them focused on the screen where 'Enchanted' was beginning to play.

Ignoring Kurt's knowing look and pointedly raised eyebrows as he caught sight of Finn and Rachel's entwined hands, Finn addressed his daughters.

"Mind if we join you?" he asked, already beginning to sit down, squashing in between them and Kurt. It wasn't easy to fit five of them on the couch, but the feeling of their family being so close together was even worth Kurt's sharp elbow digging into his side.

Rachel glanced at Finn, pinking slightly when she realised he'd already been watching her. He just smiled and nodded his head at their daughters who were both entirely engrossed in the film.

For the rest of the movie, Finn couldn't help glancing over at Rachel every few seconds, his eyes falling on her small hands which were wrapped around Eva's even smaller ones. The next time he looked over, all three of their heads were leaned in on top of one another, chocolate-brown hair splayed over all of their faces. He'd be lying if he said his eyes didn't get very misty at the sight of his perfect daughters and their perfect mother as they breathed deeply, fast asleep and all absolutely beautiful

xxxxxxxxxxxx

It was pouring it down as Ariella sloshed across the car-park, striding quickly to get out of the downpour. Her suitcase clattered behind her, splattering little flecks of mud up the back of her jeans.

Finally reaching the terminal, she and Eva stood just inside the automatic doors; waiting for their parents who were being slightly hindered by the enormous umbrella Uncle Kurt insisted on carrying over the three of them, despite the fact it was proving very difficult to manouevre their way through the rows of cars.

Ariella turned and headed over to the nearest display screen, still clasping Eva's hand firmly in her own, just as she had been the whole car ride over.

Rachel, Finn and Kurt soon joined them, looking over her shoulder at the board.

"Check-in starts in two minutes," Rachel observed, looking around for the correct desk and then leading everyone over to the queuing area.

"How about Evie, Kurt and I go and get something to eat and you can come and join us when you've checked your luggage in?" she suggested to Finn, who agreed to the plan.

"I want to stay with Ari," Eva responded, squeezing her sister's hand tighter.

"Okay," Rachel squashed the emotion she felt at her daughters' display of affection to answer, "You can stay here and queue with them and Uncle Kurt and I will go and get a coffee."

Eva smiled at her mother and then at her sister, motioning at Rachel and Kurt to go.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Are you actually going to drink that?" Kurt asked, nodding at her coffee cup. She looked up, surprised.

"I am drinking it."

"Rachel, you've been stirring it round and round for the past twenty minutes. Normally it's gone within ten," Kurt pointed out, taking the plastic stirrer out of her hand.

"It's hot, okay?" she answered defensively, taking a big sip of the drink, which was actually lukewarm already.

Kurt gave her a disbelieving look but, before he could respond, Eva and Ariella appeared at the small table, Finn close behind them.

"All sorted," he announced.

"I suppose you'd better go and check yourselves in then. You know how long it can take to get through security sometimes."

Kurt quickly finished the rest of his drink, picking up his and Rachel's cups and disposing of them in the bin in the corner of the café.

Together, the five of them headed over to the check-in gate, stopping just before the sign which forbade any non-passengers from going any further.

"So, I'll send Eva over to you for Ari's October half-term, right?" Rachel confirmed, not meeting Finn's eye as she posed the question.

"Yeah, and A will be coming over to yours for a week at Christmas," Finn agreed, nodding and trying not to well-up as he looked over at his two daughters who were both still holding hands and looking as if they could burst into tears any second.

"_Five minutes left for check-in for passengers on flight 402 to Heathrow, London, England_."

The announcement blared over the PA system and Finn and Ariella turned to face Eva, Rachel and Kurt.

He leaned down to wrap his arms around Eva's tiny frame, smothering her in a huge bear-hug.

"Goodbye, Eva-bear. Thank you so, so much for coming to stay with me – I'm so glad I finally got to meet you."

He paused, not letting go of her as he felt her body begin to shake in his arms with sobs.

"I love you, Daddy," she choked out, burying her face in his shirt. Finn felt the tears pricking at his eyes and blinked several times to try and clear his vison.

"I love you too, Evie. I love you so much and I can't wait until I see you again," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her soft hair and pulling back to see Rachel and Ariella engaged in a similarly emotional hug and Kurt wiping his eyes at the scene.

As Rachel pulled back, he could see the heartbreak written all over her face. Eva and Ariella both reached forward to wrap their arms tightly around Uncle Kurt, murmuring their goodbyes to him and making him sniffle in response, reciprocating by enveloping both of them in a group hug.

When Kurt finally let them go, the three adults watched as Eva and Ariella turned to each other, both of them attempting to wipe their tears away.

"Hey, October's only 2 months away," Ariella tried to tease her sister, but her voice cracked before she got to the end of the sentence and Eva's face immediately crumpled, tears spilling down both of her cheeks.

She threw her arms around her twin sister, who was also beginning to cry in earnest.

A sniff from somewhere to his left made Finn turn to see Rachel's tear-streaked face, her lips pressed together to prevent a sob as she watched their daughters.

They all stood there for a moment, before Finn pulled a reluctant Ariella away from her sister, stroking her shoulder comfortingly. Rachel did the same with Eva, pulling her daughter close to her.

Finn let go of Ariella briefly, pulling Kurt in for a quick hug and muttering his thanks in Kurt's ear.

With a heavy heart, he turned to face Rachel as he realised it could potentially be years before they saw each other again. His heart wrenched at the thought.

"Well…goodbye Rachel," he finally looked down into her deep brown eyes, letting himself fall into them just one more time. In that look they shared, it was like they were conveying everything that had remained unspoken between them. Despite his sadness, he suddenly felt a sense of calmness and clarity which he hadn't experienced since before he stormed out of their apartment so many years ago.

Somehow, he realised, they'd completely forgiven each other during this past week and begun to reform their strong, solid friendship which had been the foundation of everything else they had ever meant to each other.

"We'll keep in touch too, right?" he asked, almost afraid of her answer.

She smiled, a genuine, bright Rachel Berry beam which lit up her wet eyes.

"Of course we will, Finn," the absolute sincerity with which she spoke made him feel almost ridiculous for asking. Of course they would.

He found himself grinning at her like an idiot, both of them still staring. Rachel was shaking her head slowly as she gazed up at him.

Kurt cleared his throat, making Ariella and Eva giggle and Finn and Rachel jump. Finn stuck his tongue out at his brother immaturely, before turning back to his ex-wife.

"It's been great having you here," she told him, "Both of you," she added, looking over at Ariella. She paused for a second, looking at him with some emotion which he couldn't quite place.

"I'm going to hug you now," she warned him, before surging forward and throwing her petite frame against his, enfolding him in her strong arms.

At the feel of Rachel nestled against his body, his arms wrapped automatically around her, his figure almost swallowing hers whole. A few tears began to leak out of the corners of his eyes and he screwed them up tight, revelling in the silky feel of her hair benearth his fingertips and the perfume emanating from her which was so _Rachel_.

Finn's muscular arms around her made her heart suddenly ache desperately and she buried her face in his chest, inhaling slowly and reminding herself of his scent. Closing her eyes, she let herself be surrounded by him completely. She sniffled as the salty water began to escape past her eyelids, dripping off her long eyelashes as she eventually forced herself to pull back, smiling widely despite her tears.

"_Final call for passengers on flight 402 to Heathrow, London, England_."

"That's your cue," she informed Finn and Ariella, nodding at the gate and taking Eva's hand.

The Berrys (plus a Hummel) and the Hudsons stood facing each other for a moment, all of them smiling but with sorrow and tears in their eyes, before Finn and Ariella turned and headed through the gate, waving until they were out of sight.

Rachel had just turned around, taking Eva's hand when the familiar voice made her spin back around quickly.

"Rach!" The sound of her nickname – one which only Finn had ever called her – sent a thrill running through her as she rushed over to the barred fence where Finn was, having run back round the corner.

"I forgot to say, congratulations on your Tony Award. I always knew you'd make it," He flashed her that perfect crooked grin before hurrying back round the screen to security, leaving her standing there staring at the space where he'd just disappeared from her sight.

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><p><strong>So Finn and Ariella have gone back to Engand...without Rachel and Eva! You know what to do - drop me a comment and let me know what you think of this chapter. The more the merrier!<strong>

**Thanks for reading!**


	18. Chapter 18

Rachel stood staring at the departure gate for a good few minutes, tears sliding out of her eyes every time she blinked. Reaching out, Eva touched her mother's arm, wiping her own tears away with her other hand.

Gently, Rachel pulled her daughter in close to her side, each of them drawing comfort from the other's closeness. Kurt joined in, reaching his arm over both Rachel and Eva's shoulders and standing there in silence for a while.

"Well, I guess we'd better get going," he suggested, removing his arm and taking Eva's hand.

Rachel started at his words, opening her mouth, before realising she had no idea what she was going to say and shutting it again.

She watched Kurt and Eva walking towards the exit, holding hands and chatting to each other, Eva smiling at her uncle even though her eyes were still teary.

Kurt turned and looked back over his shoulder, calling out to her.

"You coming Rachel? Or do you plan on spending the rest of your life here in JFK airport?" he joked.

She shook her head a little, calling out her response and following them outside.

Wiping her eyes, she watched her feet scuffing across the damp tarmac of the car park as she headed to catch up, glad that at least the rain had eased off, slowing to a fine drizzle.

_Drizzle…_

"Kurt, wait."

The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them and she came to a halt suddenly, ignoring the angry beep of a taxi which had been waiting to let her cross its path. The overwhelming feeling that something was wrong just wouldn't go away, no matter how hard she tried to shake it, and she knew that if she didn't do something, it would plague her constantly.

He turned around, heading back across the car park towards her, with a concerned Eva in tow.

"What is it, Rachel? Did you forget something?"

"No, I –" she paused, unsure how to articulate her emotions. She let herself absorb the situation, knowing exactly what was wrong but not wanting to admit it to herself. Why did this always have to be so…inconvenient?

Her mind ran quickly over the events of the past few weeks, focusing in on little points of detail, remembering how happy she'd been, and, when she came back to reality, she let out a deep sigh, before resigning herself to the inevitable truth.

"…Yes."

Eva looked at her questioningly, waiting for an elaboration.

"I've forgotten something," Rachel willed herself to say the words, letting out the niggling thoughts which had been hiding in the back of her mind.

Suddenly, she spun around, striding back towards the airport.

"Mom, wait!" Eva called, chasing after her.

"Mom, where are you going?" she panted, hurrying to keep up with Rachel.

"I need to go, Evie. We've forgotten something so important, and we need to go now. We have to go to London."

She turned to look her daughter straight in the eyes, her solemn face suddenly splitting in two with an enormous smile of absolute delight and certainty.

"Wait…we're going to follow them?" Eva squealed, suddenly realising what Rachel was saying.

"Yes…yes, we are!" Rachel beamed, throwing her arms around Eva and hugging her daughter tightly.

They pulled back to find Kurt looking at them with an amused expression on his face.

Snapping into crazy-planning mode, Rachel dragged both of them inside the terminal and instantly began to look around for the nearest information desk.

"Hey, Rachel?" She turned to look at Kurt, giving him the glare which she reserved for people who interrupted her when she was carrying out important plans.

Her expression changed instantly when he reached into his jacket pocket, smirking, and pulled out an envelope, holding it up for her to see.

Basking in the moment, Kurt paused dramatically, before his speech came rushing out.

"Finally. I was beginning to think I'd wasted my money, time, and incredible influence as fashion designer extraordinaire and best friend of Rachel Berry getting these tickets."

Rachel gaped at him, not quite understanding.

Kurt sighed, but the smug expression was still all over his face.

"Oh, please, Rachel. You think I had nothing to do with this? I called up the airline the day you arrived back here with Finn and the girls and managed to persuade them to get me these tickets for the previously sold-out, direct first-class flight to London Heathrow. For a second there I thought you were actually going to let them go again, but fortunately I see that sanity has prevailed."

He waited a second for it to sink in and was promptly tackled by a squealing Rachel, who pulled back from the hug, only to snatch the tickets off him and rip them out of the envelope.

"Okay, check-in opened about forty minutes ago, so that means we can go now!" she grabbed Eva's hand and began almost sprinting towards the departure gate.

"You're coming too, right, Uncle Kurt?" Eva asked him over her shoulder.

Rushing to join them as they joined the queue for the check-in, he pulled her in for a one-armed hug, triumph written all over his face.

"Of course I am – there's no _way _I'm missing this."

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"You holding out alright, A?"

Finn looked fondly across at his daughter who was slumped over her suitcase, her head resting on a new fluffy travel-pillow and her eyes blinking slowly and heavily, in that way they did when she was just on the brink of sleep.

"Mhmm," she mumbled sleepily, shifting position to snuggle against her father's arm instead.

He reached his arm up to stroke her hair softly, yawning as he did so.

"How long is it 'til boarding?" Ariella mumbled.

"Hm?" Finn smiled to himself – she'd definitely inherited his trait of slurring her words together incoherently when she was tired.

She yawned, shuffling against him until she was sitting up properly.

"How long is it until we board?" she repeated.

Finn checked his watch and then glanced up at the nearest screen in the terminal before he answered.

"Only about half an hour more, baby. Not too long to go now."

"Why couldn't we just fly direct?" Ariella asked tiredly into his shoulder.

"It's kind of hard to get a direct flight to London when you postpone your return journey by a week. One day, when the band's massively famous and I'm a total rock star, we'll be able to avoid connecting flights," he joked.

Satisfied with his answer, Ariella relaxed again, sinking into her father and letting him pull her close.

"Besides, at least we only had to stop over in Ireland. It's not a long flight at all home from here," Finn added, "Hey, did I tell you I used to have a friend from Ireland? He joined Glee club my senior year –"

Feeling the rhythmic rise and fall of his daughter's tiny body against his chest and realising she'd fallen asleep, Finn stopped talking, allowing his thoughts to drift into reminiscence of his senior year and, unavoidably, _Rachel… Rachel… Rachel_…

xxxxxxxxxxxx

By the time the taxi pulled up outside their house, it was almost midnight, British time.

"Remember to be quiet, A," Finn reminded his daughter who was now wide-awake again, having napped on-and-off all flight.

Thanking and paying the driver, Finn hauled their luggage out of the car and handed Ariella her own suitcase, which she began to tow up the short path to the front door.

"The light's on," she whispered, nodding at the living room window, which was illuminated orange behind the closed curtains.

"That'll be Grandpa Burt and Grandma Carole staying up to welcome us back," Finn grinned, balancing his suitcase on its end as he pulled the house keys out of his bag and inserted them in the lock.

"You know, I'm not tired at all, Dad. I'm pretty sure I'm still on Eastern Time. Can we watch a film or something before we go to bed? It is the holidays and I promise I'll sleep in tomorrow." Ariella begged, turning her puppy-dog eyes on him as he helped her lift her suitcase into the hall and closed the door behind them.

"Nice try, A. But you've gotta get used to the timezone you're in," he chuckled, "Still, I'm sure it wouldn't be _too _bad if you stay up just for a little while to say hello to Grandma and Grandpa. How about you go and heat up some milk in the microwave for some bedtime hot chocolate?"

Laughing at Ariella's thrilled expression, Finn ruffled her hair before she raced off into the kitchen.

Setting down his suitcase at the bottom of the stairs and toeing off his shoes, he pushed open the door of the living room to greet his mom and Burt.

"Hey there, you two. We're back," he called over to the sofa across the dimly-lit room.

"How can you guys even see in this? Let me get the lights," he offered, flicking the switch on the wall next to him.

"Hey there."

Finn suddenly felt like he'd slipped into some alternate reality. His breath caught in his throat and his mouth opened and shut continuously as he stared at the person in front of him.

A sudden clatter of a mug being set down and the soft thumping of quick footsteps sounded from outside the door before Ariella flew into the room and stopped dead at the sight in front of her.

Eva stood up, smoothing out her shirt and stepping forward, beaming.

"Hey, Dad? Did you know that having Rachel Berry, the best Maria Broadway has ever seen, as your mother is a huge advantage when it comes to arranging sudden and necessary direct flights?" she asked cheekily, her grin growing even wider at her father's utterly astonished face.

"Yes – I…imagine it would be," he managed to stutter out, still staring at Eva as if she were an apparition. Maybe she actually was? Maybe he was just exhausted from the flight and his mind had started playing cruel tricks on him? Maybe it was like one of those crazy sci-fi movies where –

Eva launched into a sudden, incredibly fast monologue, cutting off Finn's wild speculation.

"It took us approximately eight and a half minutes after you left to realise that, despite our incredibly well-organised and expertly-planned visiting schedule, we didn't want to have to plan time to spend with our own family. Fortunately, Uncle Kurt having almost scary foresight – or possibly just an incredibly devious mind – and an extremely reputable job in the fashion industry, plus Mom's incredible status as the brightest star on Broadway and recent Tony-award winner resulted in a fortunate turn of events whereby we were able to take a direct flight here and arrive about two hours ago."

Finn stood there in utter shock, slowing down her words and replaying them in his head.

"We?" he managed to choke out.

Never one to miss the opportunity for a dramatic entrance, Rachel stepped out from around the corner of the wall she'd been hidden from sight behind.

"Hi Finn," Rachel broke the stunned silence, giving him a small – almost shy – wave from where she was standing in front of _his_ sofa, in _his _house, _here_.

"Rachel, I – uh, Rach – what?" he stumbled over his words as he tried to comprehend what on earth was going on.

Ariella seemed to get over the surprise quicker, darting forward to leap into her sister's arms, her eyes brimming with tears, but her face lit up with an enormous smile.

Still grinning crazily at each other, the sisters turned around to see their transfixed parents stepping closer and closer towards each other.

Finn's mind was still reeling as he managed to articulate the question at the forefront of his thoughts.

"But – what are you doing here? You – New York, I mean –"

Rachel let a slow, gentle, beautiful smile spread across her face at his endearing confusion and stepping even closer to him, so that they were merely inches apart.

Burt and Carole slipped into the room, accompanied by Kurt, but neither Finn nor Rachel seemed to notice their small audience, still completely wrapped up in their own little bubble.

"I always regretted not chasing after you, Finn. I'm never going to make that mistake again."

Processing her words, Finn exhaled slowly, his eyes beginning to tear up – whether from staring for too long or from the incredible emotion he was suddenly feeling, he couldn't tell.

"What are you suggesting we do, Rachel? What about our homes – our lives?" he questioned, "I mean, we live practically on opposite sides of the world and Evie and Ari both have homes and friends and school."

Her face fell instantly and she ducked her head in that way she did when she was suddenly ashamed or embarrassed.

"You're right," her voice was tiny and defeated when she spoke, "What was I even thinking? How could we ever expect to sustain some sort of bi-continental relationship and mix up our daughters' lives? I'm just being stupid."

Rachel drew in a quick breath, jumping a little as Finn put his hand gently on her chin, tilting it up so he could look properly into her eyes. His other hand reached out to touch her shoulder, his heart melting at the forlorn expression on her face.

"Hey, hey," he shushed her gently, rubbing it, "Don't ever say that about yourself, Rach. You're a dreamer and you work hard to make those dreams which are important to you come true. We'll work this out somehow."

At his words, her mouth stretched into another beautiful smile, and he suddenly became very aware of their proximity when he realised he was staring at the individual teardrops clinging to her eyelashes.

For once, she didn't say anything, just kept beaming up at him like he'd hung the moon. He had a feeling the look on his face was much the same.

Leaning in impossibly closer, Finn reached out to take both her hands in his. His whisper was so low that he could barely hear it over his thudding heart when he spoke.

"You know, this is the part in those romantic movies where we cry hysterically and fall into each other's arms."

She didn't disappoint in the slightest, surging forward the last few inches and beginning to let her tears fall all over his shirt. He'd barely caught her when she pulled back again, shoving her mouth roughly onto his and making his mind explode when their lips collided for the first time in a over a decade.

Their kisses grew sloppy as their mouths ravished each other, their tongues instantly interlocking and their hands fisting through each other's hair, all over each other's backs – wherever they could possibly find.

"Okayyyyyyy," The necessity for oxygen and Kurt's awkward interruption finally forced them to both pull their heads back, although Finn immediately pulled Rachel close into his chest, feeling his heart swell with emotion and suddenly realising tears were leaking out of his own eyes too.

"As much as I'm enjoying this lovely reunion, perhaps you two had better stop before you give your daughters a display I'm sure they really don't need to see," Kurt suggested jokingly, even as he dabbed at his own tears.

Everyone turned to look at Eva and Ariella who were both beaming identically at their parents.

Suddenly, Eva let out a loud squeal, and began jumping up and down with her sister. Flopping backwards over the arm of the sofa, she let out a dramatic sigh.

"Oh my God, Ari. We actually did it!"

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><p><strong>Finally! Finchel are reunited and all is right with the world. The epilogue will be up shortly but, in the meantime, I'd just like to say another huge thank you to all of you for being such lovely, supportive readers.<strong>


	19. Chapter 19

**Hello, everyone! I'm very sorry about the incredible - even longer than usual - delay on this chapter. Between exams and writer's block, this has been a long time coming. But it's finally here, and it's quite a bit longer than usual, and filled with Finchel, which I hope makes up for it.**

**I'm sad to say, this is the final chapter. I've enjoyed writing this fic so much and I'm so grateful for your readership - especially to those of you who have taken the time to review. I'm aware that I haven't replied individually to those of you who reviewed the last two chapters - I decided to prioritise the writing of this epilogue, but I will get back to you eventually.**

**Anyway - thank you so much, once again. I hope you enjoy this!**

**Disclaimer: Glee isn't mine, The Parent Trap isn't mine, etc. etc.**

* * *

><p>The loud ting of Kurt's spoon tapping against his glass caused the loud, cheery babble in the room to die down, all eyes focused on him as he pushed his chair back and stood up, clearing his throat.<p>

"Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for coming today. Don't worry, I'm not going to make my speech before you've had your food – after all, some of you are Hudsons and my brother must get his appetite from somewhere!"

He paused momentarily to allow the small collective chuckle and knowing glances to pass, ensuring he had everyone's attention.

"So, without further ado: Ladies and Gentlemen, please put your hands together to welcome Mr and Mrs Hudson-Berry!" he gestured to the grand double-doors, which Eva and Ariella were standing by, ready to open.

The sound of applause quickly gave way to quiet giggles and awkward throat-clearing at the scene before the guests as the door swung open.

Finn and Rachel were locked in a passionate embrace; her hands fisting in his hair, his arms moving back and forth, visible only down to the elbow where they disappeared under her long, white tulle dress, which was bunched up on her thighs, which were wrapped securely around his waist.

The couple were quite clearly oblivious to everything going on around them as they continued their intense make out session. Before it could escalate any further, Kurt cleared his throat impatiently.

"Finn, there's actual food down here which you can eat instead of Rachel's tonsils!" he yelled across the room, breaking the awkwardly embarrassed silence as people began to laugh.

Rachel pulled back, leaping off Finn like she'd been burned and covering her flaming face with her hands.

"Finn, you _said_ we would have time!" she hissed, in a whisper which echoed through the room far more audibly than she'd intended.

"Get it, Hudson!" Puck's loud wolf-whistle made them both look up just in time to see him snap another photo of them.

"_Noah_!" Rachel chastised, smoothing down her skirt and patting her hair to check it was presentable.

Grinning sheepishly, Finn turned to the assembly of guests.

"Well, we did already do the proper entrance the first time," he joked, causing another laugh from everyone, before they broke into proper applause.

He took Rachel's hand and led her across the room to their table.

"This is your fault!" she muttered angrily to him as Puck grinned lecherously at them both when they passed his table.

Making sure she was properly seated, he turned his best puppy-dog eyes on her, deciding it wasn't a good idea to remind her that she'd been the one to actually jump him in the first place.

"Awww, Rach, I'm sorry. I just found it too hard to resist my beautiful –" he pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, "– gorgeous –" another kiss, "– incredibly sexy –" and another, "– wife," his final kiss slipped down to her mouth, capturing her lips sweetly and softly and making her forget all about her embarrassment. A thrill ran through her at the word, making her beam at him as her lips lingered on his.

"Mom, Dad, can you please stop kissing for, like, two seconds? It's kind of embarrassing," Ariella complained, taking her chair next to Rachel.

"Yeah, it is kind of. I mean, it's sweet, but none of my friends' parents started making out in front of my entire class _and _our teacher," Eva chipped in, slipping into the seat beside Ariella.

"Your daughters have a point," Kurt leaned over from Finn's left-hand side to join in.

"Okay, okay, we get it! No making out in public when you lot are around!" Finn laughed, pretending to get up from his seat and pull Rachel with him to find somewhere else.

"Wanna get out of here?" he smirked at her, raising his eyebrows. He was surprised that she wasn't slapping him on the arm for the suggestion until he noticed _that _expression on her face. The one she wore when she wanted to rip his clothes off right away.

She actually made to drag him off the chair but Kurt grabbed her arm and forcefully removed her hand from Finn's.

"No. You are not missing your own wedding breakfast to fornicate. Honestly, you two are even worse than when we were teenagers," he sighed, slapping Rachel's wrist with his napkin and rolling his eyes at the twins, who giggled.

"You've already given us a sudden flashback to Nationals our Junior Year – I really _don't _want to re-experience what I found you two doing in the dressing room our Senior Year." Kurt made a face and took a large sip of his glass of wine, shuddering at the memory.

"Somebody had better confiscate Noah's camera and make sure there are absolutely no videos of what just happened! Being the co-subject of 'The Kiss That Missed', whilst an interesting experience and one which I certainly don't regret, was not the way I'd originally intended to make my debut to the public." Rachel smoothed out her dress and adjusted her hair, settling for holding Finn's hand below the table.

"I think youtube might censor this one, Rachel."

"Honestly – it's not like anyone actually saw anything inappropriate!" She huffed a little, shooting Kurt a look, but a smile was still playing around her lips.

"This is your fault!" she muttered to Finn, when everyone was distracted by the arrival of their meals.

"You love it," he countered, winking at her and stealing a stealthy peck on the lips.

"Hm... unfortunately, you're right," Rachel half-sighed, half-giggled, leaning back in for another and letting her mouth linger a fraction of a second longer this time.

"Are you actually going to eat?" Ariella demanded, pulling on Rachel's arm in an attempt to separate her parents' faces.

Finn chuckled, smiling ruefully and ruffling Ariella's hair.

"Of course," he said, "Gotta keep our energy up for later, right Rach?"

"Can you two just stop for one second?" Kurt burst out in exasperation at his brother's playful wink, grabbing both of their hands and placing them firmly on the table, in plain sight, where he could keep an eye on them if they started _wandering_.

Neither of them made any reply, although Rachel was still laughing quietly as she tucked into her food; a feat which proved to be quite difficult considering the fact that she kept her hand firmly entwined with her husband's throughout the whole meal.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

The dessert course had ended and a warm, comfortable content had settled over the room – amplified by the slight buzz of alcohol.

Kurt stood again, tapping the side of his glass daintily with his spoon and waiting for everybody's attention to turn to the long table at the end of the room where they were seated.

"A toast," he announced, picking up his glass.

"Grandpa Hiram, can't we have one?" Ariella asked, gesturing to the adults' champagne flutes.

"Just don't drink it all in one go, sweetie," he winked, handing her and Eva two small glasses of the (pink – at Rachel's insistence) sparkling drink. She beamed and held out the glass in front of her, looking up at her uncle expectantly.

"Okay, in a moment, the fathers of the bride will be making their speech, but first I'd like you all to raise your glasses to this ridiculously sickening couple here," A small chuckle vibrated around the room at Kurt's gesture to Finn and Rachel, who both appeared to be proving his point by the way they were sitting: his arms were looped over her shoulder and her head was resting against his so that their cheeks were touching.

"Here's to Mr and Mrs Finchel Hudson – and their beautiful daughters."

Finn turned his head to touch his lips softly to Rachel's whilst everyone else drank to them, cheering loudly. He couldn't resist slipping his tongue in, re-positioning himself slightly on his chair to get a better angle.

"Hhm-hmm," Leroy Berry stood up and cleared his throat loudly in the direction of his daughter and her new husband, who were now in the middle of a full-on make-out session.

Finn pulled back, looking a little sheepish, but not altogether sorry, and turned his attention to the Mr Berrys as Hiram stood up to take Leroy's hand.

"We're going to keep this short and sweet because those two words describe our little girl perfectly."

"Daddy!" Rachel exclaimed indignantly, but she still couldn't help a small giggle escape her lips.

"Partly," Hiram continued, " Because we have a lot of speeches to get through, but also –" he paused to send a mock-glare at his husband, "because Leroy may have left our original draft on the kitchen counter at home."

Leroy shrugged, pulling a slightly embarrassed expression, to general amusement, before Hiram began to speak again. His tone suddenly changed to become more serious as he angled himself to face the newlyweds.

"Finn and Rachel. This is your second wedding day but you are both each other's first and only spouses. You two have proved time and time again that no matter what decisions you make, no matter where the universe takes you, you will always find some ridiculously convoluted way back to each other."

Leroy nodded, taking over.

"You're both magnificent parents, and today you've officially become the most wonderful family and it brings me so much joy to see you all so happy together. Not to mention the fact that we finally get to see both of our beautiful granddaughters."

Ariella smiled at Eva and turned to sneak a glance at her parents who were beaming at each other, hands clasped tightly together.

"You've had your hearts broken; you've broken each other's hearts, but the fact that you two are here today, getting married _again_ doesn't make us think you're dysfunctional as a couple. It makes us believe that you truly are the only ones who can fix each other and you really do belong together," Hiram added, wiping a small tear from the corner of his eye.

Leroy was getting equally choked up, but managed to complete the speech:

"We love you both and wish you every happiness together for a long time to come."

Everybody began to applaud and Rachel gave her thanks, blowing a kiss across to her dads as they re-joined the top table.

Looking over at her dad, Eva noticed he was motioning to her and tapped Ariella on the shoulder to draw her attention. Finn grinned at both of them, patting his knee, and the two girls jumped up to sit on their parents' laps.

"I love you, baby girl," Rachel whispered to Ariella, pulling her against her chest and stroking her hair softly. Ari tilted her head to smile up at her mom, feeling the warmth of her love in every part of her body, like it was expanding out from her heart.

"I love you too," she answered, snuggling her head against Rachel's neck and reaching out to hold Eva and Finn's intertwined hands.

The Hudson family turned their attention to Kurt, listening to his heartfelt best-man's speech to all of them, punctuated with multiple jokes, mostly at Finn's expense, and garnering a particularly loud laugh, plus a round of applause when he recounted the events leading up to the wedding and admitted – or rather boasted – his part in Finn and Rachel's reunion.

"Now, usually this would be where the groom speaks," Kurt concluded, "But seeing as I am the official master of ceremonies today, we're structuring things a little differently to make space for an extra special speech. So, please join me in welcoming the unusual addition to this wedding: the daughters of the bride and groom."

Holding his hands out by way of introduction, Kurt headed back over to his seat by Finn as Eva and Ariella disentangled themselves from their parents' arms and walked over to the makeshift stage, side by side.

Eva picked up the microphone, beaming around at their audience.

"What Uncle Kurt _didn't_ tell you, because I don't think we ever told _him_, was how much Ari and I hated each other to begin with. All of you know my mom… so I guess you can imagine exactly what I would be like when I met somebody just as amazingly talented as myself!"

The assembled guests laughed and Eva giggled at Rachel, who stuck her tongue out at her in return.

"Anyways, I've never been more delighted to be proved wrong in my first impression of somebody and I'm so happy today to be able to stand up here with my sister at our parents' wedding."

"Evie's literally the sister I never had," Ariella continued, "And I am so, so thankful that the four of us finally get to be a family with the most perfect mom and dad we could ever wish for."

Finn squeezed Rachel's hand tightly, feeling his eyes get misty when he noticed hers were glassy with tears as Ariella addressed them.

"Today's actually the first wedding I've ever been to and it's easily one of the most magical days of my life. I know Dad might kill me for saying this but I really can't wait to have my own now!"

"Our baby girls aren't ever getting married to anyone," Finn muttered under his breath, even as he smiled, and Rachel placed a quick, comforting kiss on his cheek, rubbing her hand up and down his arm.

"Awww, Finny, you know you'll always be the number one man in their lives – they're both such Daddy's girls," she whispered in his ear, pressing another gentle kiss to the side of his face.

"Mom, stop flirting with Dad and pay attention to our speech!" Eva called, making everyone laugh.

Ariella ensured that both Finn and Rachel were giving the two of them their full attention before she carried on.

"This is your wedding present from me and Evie because we can only hope that one day, when we're older, we'll be as fortunate as to find people who love us as much as you love each other. We'll be singing 'Someday' from the Broadway show turned movie 'The Wedding Singer'."

Placing the microphone back in its stand as the bouncy music began, Ariella started to sing.

"She turns around

And she meets his gaze

The lights are dim,

There's a smoky haze

They share a smile

And a secret wave

It's a moment built to save

They start to move

Across the floor

The room is frozen,

Wanting more

The happy couple on display

With nothing standing

In their way,"

Picking up her microphone and placing a hand on her chest dramatically, Eva picked up the melody.

"It's so romantic I could die

Right here and now

It's gonna be that way for us

I know somehow."

Grinning at her sister and then at the guests, Ariella pulled the microphone back out of its stand and joined in with her sister, their two voices mixing perfectly.

"Someday when it's me

I'll know our love

Was meant to be

Not one single complication

Or cause for hesitation.

Someday when the dream

Is coming true

All you'll need is me

And all I'll need is you,"

Skipping off the small stage, Eva and Ariella danced gracefully over to their parents, pulling them up out of their seats to join the two of them as Eva began to sing the second verse.

"They stop and pose

For a photograph

He jokes around

Just to make her laugh.

The room is full,

But they're all alone

They have a language

All their own,"

As Ariella began to sing her part, she turned around, noticing at Finn and Rachel, who were both doing their best embarrassing-parent dancing behind the twins on the stage, and laughing at each other as they did so.

"And I'm so jealous I could cry

And yet I know

It won't be long

Before you say

We're good to go,"

The girls danced around their parents as they began to sing the chorus together. Rachel's loud, ecstatic laughter bubbled out over the music as Finn picked her up and twirled her around.

"Someday when it's me

I'll know our love

Was meant to be

Not one single complication

Or cause for hesitation

Someday when the dream

Is coming true

All you'll need is me

And all I'll need is you"

Finn set Rachel back on her feet and she stole a quick kiss, still holding his hand as they carried on dancing in the background, whilst Evie and Ari's voices continued into the bridge.

"I know not every marriage

Lasts when things go bad

I've seen the warning signs

I call them 'Mom' and 'Dad'"

Finn pretended to swat Ariella on the head at this line, making her giggle even though she was still singing.

"But soon you'll take my hand

And pledge your love to me

Till then I'll just get married vicariously"

Rachel skipped forward, stealing Eva's microphone gently from her hand and sliding it into the stand between them. Finn did the same with Ariella's and the four Hudsons took each other's hands as they all joined in singing through the key change into the final chorus. By now, all of the guests were clapping along to the song – a few of Rachel's friends from her show were even joining in with the song from their seats.

"Someday when it's me

I'll know our love

Was meant to be

Not one single complication

Or cause for hesitation

Someday when the dream

Is coming true

All you'll need is me…"

Holding the long note perfectly, Rachel turned sideways to properly face Finn, reaching her arms out to him and taking his hands, before their voices harmonised exquisitely on the final line.

"And all I'll need is you!"

Their audience burst into rapturous applause, a few whistles and cheers breaking out amongst them. Carole was wiping at her eyes with pride as her two granddaughters took their bows and invited their parents to do the same.

"Thank you!" Ariella laughed joyously, taking Eva's hand and bowing again as they left the stage and returned to their seats.

"You have to go and sit down now, baby – it's my turn to speak," Finn whispered playfully, pecking Rachel on the cheek and making her giggle. When she turned to leave the stage, he tapped her lightly on the ass, making everyone laugh as she blushed, rolled her eyes and slapped him lightly on the arm before running back to her seat at the top table.

The atmosphere suddenly shifted – everyone's moods becoming more serious as Finn cleared his throat nervously, fumbling slightly as he adjusted the microphone stand so he didn't have to lean down to talk. His heart was suddenly pounding in his chest, and he tried to wipe his sweaty hands discreetly on the inside of his pockets.

The fact that he'd done this before made the whole thing a hundred times worse – he'd made this speech to Rachel and their marriage hadn't worked out, and now he was terrified that she'd somehow think his words were insincere after everything he'd said last time just ended up as empty promises.

Swallowing, Finn made himself look up, and his eyes were immediately drawn to Rachel's – it was as if everything else had blurred and faded into the background except her, glowing like his own personal beacon of light. She smiled at him, and the sheer love in her eyes made him want to cry, but at the same time it filled him with confidence.

"Well, first of all, I have to say an enormous thank you to our two awesome daughters, Evie and Ari for just giving us the best wedding present ever!"

He grinned over at his two precious baby girls who were looking up at him with identical Rachel-Berry ten-thousand-watt mega beams of adoration on their faces.

"And, yes, I'm sorry Kurt; they were even better than yours," he added with a small chuckle, noticing his step-brother's faux-offended expression. The small joke made him feel a little less nervous as he suddenly became serious.

"So, um, I made a speech like this before, twelve years ago. And it turned out that speech ended up being full of unintentional lies. And, uh, so, this time, I _promise _with all my heart that I will stick by everything I say."

He took a deep breath, looking up to meet his wife's eyes again, and seeing the tears already sliding out of them brought tears to his own eyes.

"Rach," his eyes bore earnestly into hers, "Last time we did this it was amazing. We were with people we loved and we were _finally_ getting married and it was everything we'd ever dreamed of. It was too good to be true and I think we were both waiting for the other shoe to drop because neither of us could believe it had finally worked out. And then suddenly not everything was perfect and we started letting things get in between us. We weren't prepared for everything, and I know how much that scared you because everyone knows you like to be insanely prepared for absolutely everything."

She smiled at that, listening to their friends' amused murmurs, but her eyes were still serious and he could see the slight anxiety in her eyes as she waited for him to continue.

"But this time it's gonna be so different, baby," he swallowed, the tight lump in his throat growing as he saw his mom dabbing at her eyes and Burt, beside her, getting emotional too.

"Some parts will still be the same. This is amazing. We're with people we love and we're _finally, finally_ getting remarried. It's too good to be true. But, you know what? It is true. And not everything's going to be perfect, but we're going to make it as damn near as we can."

Rachel fought not to let out a full-on sob at Finn's expression, and the way his voice cracked with emotion.

"We're not prepared for anything, and I don't know about you, but I'm terrified… but that doesn't matter because we're going to face it all this time. I'm not going to promise you anything I can't be sure of – so I'm not going to say there won't be arguments and stress and times when we both just want to scream at each other forever. But for every one of those times, there will be a thousand which are so much better. So I am going to make you some promises that I know I can keep. I promise that no matter how much we yell at each other, we'll kiss each other a hundred times more; I promise that I'll be there on the opening night of your new show in the West End –" he paused for the cheer which rose up from the guests," – and the nights I'm not there watching, I'll be there at home with our beautiful girls, and I'll be waiting in bed for you when you get back."

Finn felt the tears pricking at his eyes as he looked over at his family – all of them crying at his speech.

"And, this is the easiest one. I promise you, Rachel Barbra Hudson, that I will never, ever stop loving you with everything I have. You're my soulmate and I will do everything I can to keep you as close to me as possible."

Hit by a sudden wave of emotion, Finn nodded to signal the end of the speech. In several quick strides, he was at the top table, scooping Rachel up in his arms and burying his face in her hair, as she burrowed her head into his shoulder. An audible 'awww' rang out through the room as Finn finally let himself be overwhelmed by her scent and the tears in his eyes spilled over.

Finally, Rachel raised her tear-stained face to plant wet butterfly kisses all over his face. She pressed her lips to his gently, but as he tried to deepen the kiss, she pulled away unexpectedly.

Her heart hammered in her chest as she wiped at her eyes and ascended to the stage. Making an attempt to control her emotions, she tapped the microphone to ensure she had everyone's attention.

"Hi, everyone. I know it's not customary for the bride to make her own speech, but I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all of you coming, especially to those of you who flew out from the States to be here. Today has been the most incredible day and you have been the most wonderful people to celebrate the official joining together of our family – and, on behalf of all five of us, I'd like to thank you for making this wedding so spectacular."

Rachel's face broke out into a wide grin as she watched Finn's expression eagerly, waiting for the penny to drop.

Suddenly his eyebrows shot up and his mouth opened.

"Oh my God!" Kurt's shrill exclamation drew everyone's attention as realisation dawned on his face.

"Five – but you – Rach," Finn stuttered, still trying to comprehend the situation.

"Yes, five of us," Rachel beamed, placing a gentle hand on her abdomen and blurting out the words in delight:

"I'm pregnant!"

Various shouts of joy came from the guests. Rachel smiled at her fathers, who were hugging each other, and Rachel laughed as Carole shrieked with excitement and rushed over to throw her arms around her daughter-in-law.

"We're going to have a baby sister or brother!" Eva crowed, jumping up and down with her twin.

Pushing through all of the people fussing around his wife, Finn simply grabbed her and mashed his face against hers in a raw, passionate kiss that made them both weak at the knees.

"I love you," he muttered, still keeping his mouth firmly attached to hers as his carnal desire took over and he picked her up, almost running out of the room, his hand already tugging at her zipper as hers began ripping off his tie.

"I'll give them that one," Kurt chuckled, "You two might want to come and camp out in my room tonight," he added to the twins, "Trust me, you really don't want to be in the room next door to those two."

"Kurt," Carole reprimanded him teasingly.

"It's okay – we know _exactly _what you're talking about," Ariella announced proudly, before she and Eva burst into fits of giggles.

"Okay, everyone, go and relax and we'll start the late-night celebration at eight thirty," Kurt called over the babble filling the room.

Carole laughed.

"I think the bride and groom might have started their own private celebrations already."

* * *

><p><strong>And there you go: the happy ending! I hope it wasn't too cheesy! As always, reviews are very, very welcome.<strong>

**I have a few ideas for new fics, so look out for those. Thank you all so much once again!**


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